Consumer Rights Bill

Debate between Vince Cable and Lord Walney

Tuesday 28th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

I know very well my hon. Friend’s interest in this area and the work that he has done on it. He has made Eastbourne an exemplar of good practice. I accept that local authority budgets are squeezed, and sometimes trading standards are squeezed relatively severely. We can help with that by helping to rationalise their operations, training and cross-border co-operation. I am happy to meet my hon. Friend and others, cross-party or otherwise, to see how we can progress this.

A further set of measures in the Bill relates to consumer law enforcement. We will consolidate and simplify the investigatory powers of consumer law enforcers—this takes us back to the discussion we have just had on local trading standards officers—into one generic set to make it easier for enforcers and businesses to understand what powers can be used and in what circumstances. We estimate that that measure alone will save businesses around £40 million during the next 10 years. We will also make it easier for trading standards to collaborate across local authority boundaries to tackle the kind of rogues we saw in a recent scam drawing people throughout the country into costly and unnecessary driveway repairs.

[John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank the Secretary of State for his generosity in giving way, particularly as I unfortunately missed the start of his speech. He makes an interesting speech—as interesting as he can given the subject. Why is there so little in the Bill for people who are failed by public sector agencies? Is there not a great need for increased rights when consumers or citizens find themselves on the wrong side of these bureaucracies when they let them down?

[Vince Cable]

Some of us find this a passionately interesting subject. The enthusiasm shows, I know. There is the ombudsman for the public sector. One could argue that the legislation will bring the private sector up to the same standards of scrutiny that we would expect when there are failures in public administration.

Local Growth White Paper

Debate between Vince Cable and Lord Walney

Thursday 28th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

My colleague is absolutely right that the contribution of the creative industries sector has been consistently ignored in the past. In terms of employment and value-added, it has at least as much growth as the financial services sector. I propose to work with my colleague in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to bring the industry together to see what we can do to overcome the obstacles to its growth.

[John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) (Lab/Co-op)]

Given that the Secretary of State was too frit to face concerned students today, I guess we should be grateful that he has had the courage to come to the House at all. Given that he is here, can he explain to an area such as mine, which has greater levels of deprivation and is further away from the natural engines of growth in the economy, how exactly he will guarantee that businesses will get the support they need, given the enormous and significant cuts in funding and the fact that there is no certainty at all in the current arrangements?

[Vince Cable]

I think I answered that in my statement. In areas that really matter to business, such as the availability of trained manpower, there will be, as the hon. Gentleman will remember from the outcome of the comprehensive spending review, an increased number of apprenticeships and increased commitment to innovation centres, for example. Those are the things that really matter.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Vince Cable and Lord Walney

Thursday 14th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

Yes, my hon. Friend is quite right; there has to be choice and there will be some competition among universities, which is welcome. That is very far short of a laissez-faire free market. We do not want that. There has to be protection for low-income students when they graduate. We will build in those protections and will ensure that there is a proper progressive scheme.

[John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) (Lab/Co-op)]

4. What steps he plans to take to ensure that businesses in deprived areas receive support through local enterprise partnerships.

Industry (Government Support)

Debate between Vince Cable and Lord Walney

Wednesday 16th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

Indeed. It is part of a conglomeration, but he spoke up for Stoke-on-Trent in particular. I met the chamber of commerce from that area; it came up with some excellent ideas, and I would be happy to meet it and the hon. Lady again. Clearly, this part of the country is deprived and needs special attention, and I am happy to give it.

I return to the question of how the imbalances arose. Of course, there is a trend, but it was aggravated by bad policy. I shall remind Labour Members, not all of whom were here during the period, of some of the big developments that occurred and which produced this excessive decline in manufacturing and the excessive dependence on the banking sector. Five or six years ago, I and other colleagues were warning from the Opposition Benches about the bubble that was developing in the property market, the reckless bank lending that was fuelling it and the instability that it was going to create. We were dismissed at the time as scaremongers, but of course the bubble did burst, with the disastrous consequences that we are now paying for.

Going further back in time—probably to before the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton South East was a Member of the House—a very important report was commissioned by the former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown). The Cruickshank report set out graphically how the British banking industry simultaneously was pursuing short-term profits while being dependent on a Government guarantee, and was also severely damaging British small-scale business because of the lending practices being adopted. At the time, we urged the Government to act on that report, but nothing was ever done.

[John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) (Lab/Co-op)]

The right hon. Gentleman talks about the past, but does he agree with the chief executive of the Cumbria chamber of commerce who said it would take the region back to the economic dark ages if we were to scrap the Northwest Regional Development Agency?

[Vince Cable]

I am happy to come to RDAs shortly. We have a view on them, and I have been asked specific questions by the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton South East about them. The hon. Gentleman will also have heard me speak specifically about the north-west at Business, Innovation and Skills questions a couple of weeks ago—but I shall return to that.