Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Vince Cable and Jason McCartney

Thursday 5th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

7. What steps he is taking to support small businesses.

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

We are doing more than ever to support small business. More than 10,000 StartUp loans have been drawn down since the scheme’s launch in September 2012. Over the past year, UK Trade & Investment has helped 32,000 businesses to export, the growth accelerator scheme has supported 10,000 small businesses and the regional growth fund has helped a further 3,200.

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[Vince Cable]

I think we all agree that small business Saturday is a positive, cross-party initiative, and hon. Members on both sides of the House will be out there backing it. I praise the originality of my hon. Friend’s approach.

On small business funding—I am sure this issue will be raised many times—I have drawn attention to the StartUp loans scheme that is helping large numbers of start-ups to get going, and the business bank is supporting both new and original forms of funding, as well as a rapid expansion of guarantees for existing companies.

[Jason McCartney]

I, too, will support small business Saturday, as I have done in the build-up to this weekend. Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating the Holmfirth Hullabaloo and Totally Locally Slaithwaite campaigns, which have engaged local shopkeepers with innovative reward and prize schemes to encourage local communities to shop locally?

[Vince Cable]

I do not know what those exciting schemes involve, but they sound fun. The basic underlying theme is that we are all being urged to support our local shops and to shop locally. I am sure that is a very good theme around which we can all unite.

Industrial Strategy

Debate between Vince Cable and Jason McCartney

Monday 10th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

I meet the Chancellor very frequently. He has supported, through the autumn statement and the Budget, a whole series of innovation spending, building on the science budget, which, as the hon. Lady will remember, was ring-fenced in the spending review. He understands the needs in this area very well.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

Does the Secretary of State agree that the multi-million-pound regional growth fund investment in David Brown’s offshore wind turbine gear systems technology innovation centre on the outskirts of Huddersfield shows that this Government are investing in renewables?

[Vince Cable]

The hon. Gentleman took me to that factory, which was one of the first successful projects launched by the regional growth fund. It is a great advertisement for British industry, and I know that he has been personally very supportive of it. There are many examples of that kind which offset some of the negativity we have heard from Opposition Members.

Directors’ Pay

Debate between Vince Cable and Jason McCartney

Wednesday 20th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

There is an important distinction between existing pay arrangements, which are governed by contract, and future pay policies, which will be the subject of binding votes, after which those contracts can be set on a fresh principle. There is a restraint on existing pay through the advisory vote, and, as I have set out, I envisage the disciplines around the advisory vote being strengthened by the statement, subject to the operation of the Financial Reporting Council.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

When an employee and union representative at ITV in Leeds, I was dismayed to see the then boss of ITV, Charles Allen, receive millions in pay, perks and bonuses, while making a series of catastrophic business decisions that brought the company to its knees and saw the share price plummet. I am also dismayed to see that he is now sacking workers at Labour party headquarters. Does my right hon. Friend agree that work forces’ views on executive pay should be considered?

[Vince Cable]

They should be considered. If my predecessors had been as active as this Government have been in bringing forward this legislation, the Labour party would probably not be facing these redundancies.

Executive Pay

Debate between Vince Cable and Jason McCartney

Monday 23rd January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

This argument has been rehearsed many times. The then Chancellor of the Exchequer, who introduced the bonus tax, made it clear that it was a one-off measure and that, if it were continued, banks would simply avoid it by converting bonuses into consolidated pay. It was a good idea at the time. It worked for a year, and we now have a much more effective and credible way of taxing banks.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

Rewards for failure: the old boss at ITV, where I used to be the trade union representative, slashed jobs, made a succession of poor business decisions and brought the company to its knees while picking up millions in pay, perks, bonuses and share options. Is my right hon. Friend surprised that the Leader of the Opposition has rewarded that failure with a key role in restructuring the Labour party?

[Vince Cable]

I have not followed those developments, but perhaps I should retract some of the complimentary things I said about the Leader of the Opposition.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Vince Cable and Jason McCartney

Thursday 31st March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, the feed-in tariff consultation is being conducted by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, but I will certainly communicate his concerns to it.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

T10. I am very lucky to have many successful manufacturing businesses in my constituency, and I am always one to talk up our manufacturing expertise, whether it is David Brown Engineering in Lockwood, Thornton and Ross pharmaceuticals in Linthwaite, Equi-Trek horseboxes in Meltham or any one of many others. However, some of my smaller businesses are still reporting problems with bank lending. How aware is the ministerial team of this problem, and what can we do to help such businesses to achieve multimillion pound turnovers?

[Vince Cable]

The hon. Gentleman is right that manufacturing is a success story. It is now growing at double-digit levels annually, in stark contrast with what happened in the period after 1997, when we had a hollowing out of manufacturing more rapid than anywhere else in the world. However, he is right that there is a threat to small and medium-sized enterprises in particular from bank lending practices. We have secured commitments to 15% more lending from the banks, but much more needs to be done.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Vince Cable and Jason McCartney

Thursday 17th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

3. What steps he is taking to encourage entrepreneurship.

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

The Government have actively encouraged enterprise, including doubling the amount of small business rate relief for one year, launching the new enterprise allowance, and initiating a new programme in universities, Enterprising Academics. With support and practical input from my entrepreneurs group, I am developing further measures to support entrepreneurship around employment regulation and start-ups.

[Jason McCartney]

I thank the Secretary of State for that answer. I welcome, as do my constituents, the new enterprise allowance—in fact, my constituents have been asking me about that for the long-term unemployed. A recent graduate from Slaithwaite also asked me whether we might extend the scheme to recent graduates, to take advantage of their skills, especially if they have studied business or engineering.

[Vince Cable]

That is an excellent suggestion, which we will pursue. As the hon. Gentleman knows, the new enterprise allowance is being trialled in Liverpool, and will give people who would otherwise face long periods of unemployment the opportunity to start their own businesses with financial support, mentoring and access to loans. It is a very good scheme, which I want to encourage and expand.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Vince Cable and Jason McCartney

Thursday 14th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

I am always happy to meet Opposition Members who have local difficulties with local companies; I have already done so and I am happy to talk to the hon. Gentleman about this. I do not know the details of the case, and I have to say at the outset that we are not in a position to make available large amounts of public money, but if we can help in other ways, we will.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

T9. Will the Minister confirm his commitment to ensuring that the nation has the right kind of skills for a sustainable economic recovery by supporting ambitious young people and adults such as those studying at Kirklees college to improve their education and skills in further education?

Higher Education and Student Finance

Debate between Vince Cable and Jason McCartney

Tuesday 12th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

When the Government’s economic policies have produced the successful outcome that we all expect, we can return to the question of how universities can be supported in a more generous way, but at the moment we face a massive financial crisis that we inherited from the Labour party and we therefore have to make choices that he and his colleagues ducked.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

Young people in my constituency have some wonderful options on their doorstep. There is Huddersfield university and the expanding Kirklees college, and some local engineering companies are offering apprenticeships. With that in mind does the Secretary of State wish to revise the target of 50% of young people going to university, or is he sticking by it?

[Vince Cable]

We do not believe in prescriptive targets. The 50% target was a serious mistake, not least because it sent the wrong signals to the further education sector that it was undervalued and that vocational qualifications did not have the same status as graduate degrees. We intend to change that approach fundamentally and look at post-16 and post-state education as a whole, giving vocational and academic education equal status.