Climate Action and Extinction Rebellion

Debate between Vince Cable and Claire Perry

Tuesday 23rd April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Claire Perry]

I cannot disagree with my hon. Friend that the focus on retrofitting is hugely important. He and I put ourselves on the green deal Bill Committee because we believed there was a way to incentivise people—if someone retrofits their home, their energy bills go down, and they often get a higher sale price or a lower running cost.

We have to work in all sectors. There will continue to be an element of Government investment. We are working with mortgage lenders. There is evidence that offering a green mortgage pays for itself, because people can borrow more cheaply and get a better rate of return. There have to be many ways of doing this. In constituencies like mine, many homes are not suitable for traditional retrofit technologies such as cavity wall insulation. That is why part of the £2.6 billion we are spending on innovation over this Parliament has to go into finding solutions for such homes.

[Sir Vince Cable (Twickenham) (LD)]

The Minister is right that there are some sectors, such as power generation, in which major progress has been made in carbon reduction, but does she agree that there are others, such as aviation, where virtually nothing is taking place? Does she agree that the Government should re-examine major expansion projects such as Heathrow specifically to look at the climate change implications?

[Claire Perry]

The right hon. Gentleman tempts me into another Department’s area. I have to say that I believe that most of the emissions problems with this specific aviation project relate to transport to and from the airport, and clearly there is much more that can be done on that with the Department for Transport. Equally, however, we have to look at how we try to solve the aviation problem globally. Again, there is no point trying to do something unilaterally that disadvantages the UK economy, when we could be working to solve the problem. One of the things the Department has been doing is investing in alternative fuels, in many cases created from the waste products of other processes, and that is the sort of innovation we need to see because unless we can drop the emissions from aviation substantially, we will not be on track.

Vauxhall (Redundancies)

Debate between Vince Cable and Claire Perry

Monday 16th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Claire Perry]

I am happy to give those assurances. Everything we have to do needs to be put through the prism of state aid rules. We were one of the great proponents of a level playing field. We have always played by the state aid rules in a way that other countries perhaps do not. Everything that we do has to meet those tests. It does that and will continue to do so.

[Sir Vince Cable (Twickenham) (LD)]

When I negotiated in Government alongside the trade unions in the discussions with General Motors to save and then expand the plant, it was clear that the whole business model for Vauxhall car production—and van production at Luton—depended on the common standards in the single market and the common tariff in the customs union. Since the Minister cannot guarantee either, what equivalent measures will she put in place?

[Claire Perry]

The right hon. Gentleman knows that that is absolutely part of the negotiations, but we are considering one of more successful and vital industries, and the voices of those in the sector are heard loud and clear in my ears and those of the Secretary of State, and very publicly. If we want to protect the jobs and get the investment that means our children and our grandchildren will work in those plants, we must secure the best possible deal for UK car manufacturers and the UK economy.

Clean Growth Strategy

Debate between Vince Cable and Claire Perry

Thursday 12th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Claire Perry]

My hon. Friend will know that we try to be technologically neutral in the auction structure to ensure that sources of energy are the lowest cost and the most effective in terms of decarbonisation, creating a strategic base upon which we can innovate and invest. The excellent policy work has been striking, and I pay tribute to some of my predecessors in the Department. For example, our work on offshore wind, which involved setting a framework, investing up front and then driving down costs, has been amazing. Those are the sorts of processes that we would like all renewables to go through. My hon. Friend mentioned water power, and we have the second-highest tidal range in the world after the bay of Fundy—I know that only because I was a geography student—and exceptional amounts of power are being generated from our coastline.

[Sir Vince Cable (Twickenham) (LD)]

Will the Minister tell us whether the newly privatised Green Investment Bank has fully signed up to the clean growth strategy? If so, how will its business plan be adapted or enlarged as a result?

[Claire Perry]

To reassure the right hon. Gentleman, not only has the Green Investment Bank—it is now known as the Green Investment Group—signed up to the plan, it has joined our green finance taskforce. We have asked our leading minds and operators in financial services, insurance, risk assessment and financial regulation to come together, so that we can not only mobilise the level of private capital that we need to drive this transformation in the UK, but export that incredible professional expertise right across the world. The taskforce is already coming up with solutions, and we will again be able to lead the world by mobilising capital and investing the right amount that we need to decarbonise.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Vince Cable and Claire Perry

Tuesday 12th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Claire Perry]

I am delighted to welcome, and indeed celebrate, that investment. There has been a series of such announcements in the automotive manufacturing sector—it has been confirmed that the electric Mini will be built in the UK. It is clear that British industry is investing, growing and thriving in the UK. We will do all we can to ensure that that continues.

[Sir Vince Cable (Twickenham) (LD)]

Given the importance of the aerospace sector in manufacturing capacity and the rather non-committal reply to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), will the Government commit themselves to standing very firmly, alongside the Canadian Government, behind Bombardier and its workers in resisting bullying from Boeing and its friends in the United States Administration?

[Claire Perry]

I am sure the right hon. Gentleman would agree that it is vital the dispute is settled, and that we create the environment for many manufacturers in this vital sector to thrive and grow.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Vince Cable and Claire Perry

Thursday 14th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

I would strongly recommend it. I believe that 24 such schemes have already been launched and more than 5,000 apprenticeships have been generated in that way. I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his role in promoting it in his constituency and compliment the company, whose headquarters in Royston I visited a few weeks ago. It is a superb and innovative British manufacturing company that is exporting most of its production and investing in skills for the long term.

[Claire Perry (Devizes) (Con)]

14. What recent progress his Department has made on implementing the recommendations of the report of Lord Davies on female representation on corporate boards.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)]

Lord Davies’s report rightly challenges directors and investors to increase the number of women on boards. The report is already having an impact on FTSE 100 companies; some 21% of new board members appointed since February are women, up from 13% last year, but there is scope to do more. I fully support this initiative and will shortly consult on requiring quoted companies to publish the proportion of female directors and senior executives in their organisations.

[Claire Perry]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that encouraging reply. I am sure that he is very aware of the large body of evidence, including Lord Davies’s report, that associates a higher number of women on corporate boards with higher stock price performance and corporate returns. If that is right for the private sector, it should be right for the public sector. What is he doing to encourage the number of women in financial regulation posts in particular, and could we have a female head of the green investment bank?

[Vince Cable]

The starting point of the hon. Lady’s question is absolutely right, and I congratulate her on the effective pressure she brings to bear on the issue. Her central point is that having more women on boards has nothing to do with political correctness; it is about sensible economics, good business and tapping into the potential that women can bring. The force of her argument is reinforced by the statement made at the beginning of the week by leading institutional investors that they will punish companies that do not make progress in this area. I will certainly receive her CV for the green investment bank if that is what she has in mind.

Higher Education and Student Finance

Debate between Vince Cable and Claire Perry

Tuesday 12th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

I certainly do not want to see that outcome; we want to see the exact opposite. We want more investment in STEM subjects. The hon. Gentleman will know that a level of, say, £7,000 would not cover the full costs of many STEM courses, and the Government will continue to support them through the teaching grant.

[Claire Perry (Devizes) (Con)]

I was lucky enough to go from my outstanding comprehensive school to a world-leading university, and then took time out of the work force to raise my family—a decision that I have never regretted. Millions of women choose to do the same. Can the Secretary of State assure the House that there will be provision, when the proposal eventually comes to Bill stage, for women like me—and, indeed, men—who choose to take time out to raise their family and then return to the work force?

[Vince Cable]

Yes, indeed, and that is a very important consideration. Of course we want women to have equality. The gender gap has got to be closed, and the issue of taking time out is an important part of that. Of course, during the period that women—or men, in certain circumstances—take out of the labour force to care for their families, the real interest rate would not accrue.