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Opposition day on Wednesday, 2 February 2011, in the House of Commons, led by John Denham. The answering member was Vincent Cable.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Performance)

Tenth opposition day debate (part one). Main question negatived on division (245 to 323).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
522 c865-924 
Session
2010-12
Department
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Vincent Cable | 522 c873-4 (Link to this contribution) I will take more interventions later. Let me deal with the issue of growth. The right hon. Member f...
Speaker | 522 c882 (Link to this contribution) Order. This is a popular debate and a six-minute limit has been introduced on all Back Benchers' spe...
Show all contributions (179)
Mel Stride | 522 c868 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
John Denham | 522 c868 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Speaker, and given what you have said, the House will understand if I do not take too ...
John Denham | 522 c868-71 (Link to this contribution) No, I am afraid that I have tried a few interventions from the Government Benches, and they have not...
Marcus Jones | 522 c868 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Vincent Cable | 522 c873 (Link to this contribution) Business—the CBI and all other businesses —has made it absolutely clear that it supports the tough a...
Lord Hanson of Flint | 522 c873 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman says that he is concerned about the approach of business to the deficit iss...
Vincent Cable | 522 c872 (Link to this contribution) I will finish this point before I take an intervention. The Governor of the Bank of England calls i...
Vincent Cable | 522 c871-2 (Link to this contribution) I welcome this opportunity to have a serious debate on economic growth and jobs, but listening to th...
Vincent Cable | 522 c872 (Link to this contribution) I will describe in detail the various steps being taken to sustain growth. If there were a silver bu...
Chris Leslie | 522 c872 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way, but his professorial picking through of a va...
Mel Stride | 522 c866 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
John Denham | 522 c866 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I shall address several such decisions that the Business Sec...
Lord Watts | 522 c866 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that if the Government were serious about encouraging private sector...
Speaker | 522 c868 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I gently point out to the House, first, that interventions should always be brief, and se...
Lord Sharma | 522 c868 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman talks about a wasted year. Does he not acknowledge that he was part of a Go...
John Denham | 522 c867-8 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and his experience will be typical of many hon. Members' experie...
Dennis Skinner | 522 c867 (Link to this contribution) A week last Friday, together with Bolsover district council, we went to the east midlands region to ...
John Denham | 522 c867 (Link to this contribution) A year ago the black country had a functioning regional development agency. That agency has been des...
Margot James | 522 c867 (Link to this contribution) The shadow Minister's accusations of inaction are not borne out by my area of the black country, whi...
John Denham | 522 c866-7 (Link to this contribution) Not at the moment. It is not as though the Government were not warned about what was coming. When t...
James Morris | 522 c876 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State is making a very good point. It is particularly applicable to the economy of ...
Vincent Cable | 522 c876 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his support. He makes the point extremely well. Local enterprise part...
Vincent Cable | 522 c876 (Link to this contribution) I will take interventions later. What I think we can claim credit for is establishing a climate of ...
Vincent Cable | 522 c876 (Link to this contribution) I will take interventions in a few moments. I think that we can claim credit for specific actions t...
Vincent Cable | 522 c874 (Link to this contribution) I will take one more intervention before moving on.
Paul Farrelly | 522 c874 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is a respected economist and will know full well that an expansion of expor...
Simon Hughes | 522 c875 (Link to this contribution) Many of us who have been in the House for a while know that this country often suffers as a result o...
Vincent Cable | 522 c876 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. It was suggested a few moments ago that the process of manufacturing recove...
Vincent Cable | 522 c875 (Link to this contribution) There are indeed many wise words in that book, which is why it has been reprinted several times—it r...
Vincent Cable | 522 c874 (Link to this contribution) Let me finish my point about manufacturing and then I will take another intervention. I shall pursue...
Marcus Jones | 522 c874 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend's argument is compelling. Does he agree that the Labour Government's record on ...
Vincent Cable | 522 c874 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: that is the core point. It is a strange irony, because many ...
Vincent Cable | 522 c873 (Link to this contribution) I will proceed. I referred to the core problem of the Budget. One difficulty we have had in debatin...
Nadhim Zahawi | 522 c873 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that this goes beyond mere deficit denial, as it is political opport...
Vincent Cable | 522 c873 (Link to this contribution) I will come on to manufacturing in a moment. We are trying to recover from a position in which there...
Richard Burden | 522 c880 (Link to this contribution) A little earlier, the Secretary of State answered a question about the west midlands, so may I tell ...
Vincent Cable | 522 c880 (Link to this contribution) Rather than prejudge what the first tranche of the regional growth fund will be, let us just wait fo...
Julian Smith | 522 c879 (Link to this contribution) Small businesses across Britain were delighted to hear last week's announcement by the Government on...
Vincent Cable | 522 c879 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for my hon. Friend's encouragement, and the Government intend to do exactly what he su...
Lord Watts | 522 c879 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State for finally giving way. He seems keen on encouraging manufac...
Vincent Cable | 522 c879 (Link to this contribution) No doubt the hon. Gentleman will tell us where that fits on the shopping list. On industrial support...
Alison McGovern | 522 c879 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State is talking about regulation, but he began his speech by giving us a history l...
Vincent Cable | 522 c878-9 (Link to this contribution) I shall finish this point and then give way. What we have done is, first, establish a process to sto...
Vincent Cable | 522 c877-8 (Link to this contribution) I am glad to hear it acknowledged that we began by having to sort out a mess. That is a good startin...
Mark Tami | 522 c878 (Link to this contribution) May I return the Secretary of State to the subject of manufacturing? My right hon. Friend the Member...
Vincent Cable | 522 c878 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen made a wholly wrong assertion. The system of immigrati...
Vincent Cable | 522 c877 (Link to this contribution) I will move on now, and take interventions later. Let me deal with the general complaint that the D...
Vincent Cable | 522 c877 (Link to this contribution) I seem to remember that an independent report established very firmly that responsibility lay with M...
John Denham | 522 c877 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way, because he referred to me personally in this...
Vincent Cable | 522 c876 (Link to this contribution) I will take one intervention, and then move on.
Angela C Smith | 522 c876 (Link to this contribution) Steel manufacturers' confidence would increase if the Secretary of State could demonstrate that he w...
Adrian Bailey | 522 c882-3 (Link to this contribution) Let me start by saying that, on a personal level, I know from my discussions with Ministers that the...
Vincent Cable | 522 c882 (Link to this contribution) I have taken a lot of interventions, and I propose to conclude now. There are many areas in which w...
David Lammy | 522 c882 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way on that point?
Adrian Bailey | 522 c884 (Link to this contribution) We would have sustained the level of support at local level that would have allowed manufacturers to...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 522 c884 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Chairman of the Select Committee on Business, Innovation and Skills for giving ...
Adrian Bailey | 522 c883-4 (Link to this contribution) I would love to talk about tax policy such as the VAT rise that is cutting demand, particularly in t...
Sam Gyimah | 522 c883 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says that our policies are not designed to promote economic growth, but what abou...
Simon Kirby | 522 c884-5 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr Denham) is absolutely right when he says that the ...
Mel Stride | 522 c885 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that only the prompt action that the Government took in the emergency Budg...
Adrian Bailey | 522 c880 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State mentioned the manufacturing advisory service, and I welcome his comment that ...
Vincent Cable | 522 c880 (Link to this contribution) I have taken a large number of interventions. I will take one more, from the Chair of the Select Com...
Vincent Cable | 522 c880 (Link to this contribution) I can certainly reassure the hon. Gentleman that that organisation has a good record and a good futu...
Vincent Cable | 522 c880-1 (Link to this contribution) I am not taking any more interventions, because I have been very generous. I wish to conclude by di...
Priti Patel | 522 c881 (Link to this contribution) I have previously raised with the Secretary of State the horrendous time that my constituent, the ch...
Vincent Cable | 522 c881 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way in a moment. The factually incorrect reference is to tax revenue, because in fact t...
Vincent Cable | 522 c881-2 (Link to this contribution) I know of the hon. Lady's frustration regarding this particular company and the banks, and I, or the...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 522 c882 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my right hon. Friend on what he is doing to increase trade in this country, because t...
Vincent Cable | 522 c882 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is exactly right that that is what we are doing, and that is what the trade White...
Jim Shannon | 522 c888 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Pat McFadden | 522 c888 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. The sad fact is that whereas we wanted to support General Motors in its pla...
Alison McGovern | 522 c888 (Link to this contribution) As my right hon. Friend knows, Vauxhall Motors is close to the southern end of my constituency. Will...
Pat McFadden | 522 c887 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman casts his mind back a little more than a year to the pre-Budget report, he wil...
Brian Binley | 522 c887 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way. He is always very kind in these matters. I...
Pat McFadden | 522 c887 (Link to this contribution) We should begin the debate by considering, as the motion asks us to do, the role of the Department f...
Simon Kirby | 522 c885-6 (Link to this contribution) I agree. Our policy is totally in keeping with the 21st century we all live in. Let me tell the Hou...
Simon Kirby | 522 c886 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not accept those facts. I am often struck, looking at those on the Opposition Benches, by...
Ian Murray | 522 c885 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Simon Kirby | 522 c885 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is, as usual, correct. We inherited a very big mess indeed. Coalition Ministers are ...
Sam Gyimah | 522 c885 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that our skills strategy goes further than the previous Government's in en...
Simon Kirby | 522 c885 (Link to this contribution) I will not. Business needs to be liberated, not submerged in legislation, not taxed out of existenc...
Mel Stride | 522 c886 (Link to this contribution) On the point made by the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull East (Karl Turner), does my hon. Friend ...
Simon Kirby | 522 c886 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. One of the sad things about unemployment is the youth unemployment elem...
Jim Shannon | 522 c886 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Simon Kirby | 522 c886 (Link to this contribution) I will not, because I do not have much time left. There is much more to do, and the times we live i...
John Denham | 522 c866 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is wrong: the reason for the large deficit was the global banking crisis, which c...
Speaker | 522 c865 (Link to this contribution) I advise the House that I have not selected the amendment on the Order Paper.
John Denham | 522 c865 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House notes that the Business Secretary in June 2010 called the Department ...
Julian Smith | 522 c865 (Link to this contribution) I cannot believe that the shadow Secretary of State has started his speech without admitting the app...
Gavin Williamson | 522 c903 (Link to this contribution) I share some of the incredulity of my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton South (Mr Binley) at Op...
Mike Weir | 522 c902-3 (Link to this contribution) Again, we hear, ““It is almost there, it is coming””, but it is not here. Help is needed now. The Me...
Anne Marie Morris | 522 c902 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I could draw to the hon. Gentleman's attention the fact that I had a meeting yesterday with ...
Mike Weir | 522 c903 (Link to this contribution) Sorry; I have taken two interventions. Many small businesses continue to use the post, as they do n...
Mike Weir | 522 c901 (Link to this contribution) I am very pleased to follow a typically robust speech by the hon. Member for Northampton South (Mr B...
Brian Binley | 522 c900-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I am delighted that he is a member of the Select Committee on Busin...
Mike Weir | 522 c901-2 (Link to this contribution) I hope that is correct—but action is needed, not just talk. The situation has been going on for a lo...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 522 c901 (Link to this contribution) I am glad to inform the hon. Gentleman that we are indeed examining a lot of those issues, particula...
Nadhim Zahawi | 522 c899 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has a long and respected record in business. Does he agree that there is a lack of re...
Mel Stride | 522 c899 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that it is essential that we do something about claims to employment tribu...
Brian Binley | 522 c899 (Link to this contribution) Today has been a revelation to me. I understood that denial was a medically treatable condition, but...
Angela C Smith | 522 c898-9 (Link to this contribution) In that case, why did he not give the loan to Forgemasters in the first place? The damage of the wi...
Brian Binley | 522 c897 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Lady aware that the Secretary of State has said that he is more than happy to receive a ...
Angela C Smith | 522 c897 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman. The Government's current, very rushed, consultation on ene...
David Simpson | 522 c897 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree that, although we can reduce regulation and bureaucracy to help small busin...
Angela C Smith | 522 c897 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in this debate. South Yorkshire has a very proud hi...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 522 c895-6 (Link to this contribution) The simple answer is that the previous Government were not as successful at doing that as they shoul...
Alison McGovern | 522 c895 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman mentions FDI and UKTI—forgive me for using so many acronyms —and their role in br...
Tom Blenkinsop | 522 c892-4 (Link to this contribution) I wholeheartedly agree. Indeed, the grants for business investment scheme helped deal with that prob...
Jim Shannon | 522 c892 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that we need to foster opportunities for young people, especially when...
Julian Smith | 522 c894-5 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that on family-friendly policies, which are vital for supporting the impro...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 522 c894 (Link to this contribution) In America the official unemployment rate is 9.5%; unofficially, it is 13%. Americans face the worst...
Alison McGovern | 522 c895 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 522 c895 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is prescient, because I was about to move on to that subject. The European Union has ...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 522 c895 (Link to this contribution) I shall, but the hon. Lady is the last person I am going to give way to.
Tom Blenkinsop | 522 c891-2 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the Minister is aware of the great success story of the North East of England Process...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 522 c891 (Link to this contribution) We are hearing a lot of denial from those on the Opposition Front Bench. Had we not taken that actio...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 522 c890 (Link to this contribution) In a moment. There is also the national insurance contributions holiday for the first 10 employees ...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 522 c890 (Link to this contribution) The Government have been particularly generous to small businesses for the coming year. He is right ...
Ian Murray | 522 c890 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady, like many of her coalition colleagues, has mentioned the cut in corporation tax as a ...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 522 c890-1 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but I have given way twice already and that is it. All those measures are yet to come i...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 522 c890 (Link to this contribution) I totally agree with the hon. Gentleman. The big companies that shout the loudest often benefit disp...
Nadhim Zahawi | 522 c890 (Link to this contribution) When providing help to business, one of the most important things is to check that it is administere...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 522 c889 (Link to this contribution) The thrust of the Opposition motion is that the coalition failed to deliver its promise on growth an...
Pat McFadden | 522 c888-9 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way because I want to make progress. What business wants is for the Department to b...
Lord Willetts | 522 c918 (Link to this contribution) No, I shall try to make progress. We have taken a deliberate decision to focus our trade activity o...
Ian Lucas | 522 c916 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not give way. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is at the margins at th...
Lord Willetts | 522 c917-8 (Link to this contribution) What a dismal picture of the business of government the hon. Member for Wrexham (Ian Lucas) has just...
Ian Lucas | 522 c914-6 (Link to this contribution) The shortness of time available means that I will not have the opportunity to refer to all Members i...
Andrew Bridgen | 522 c916 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Brandon Lewis | 522 c912-3 (Link to this contribution) Over the last few years, the thing that I have heard most from business—whether it be from the Feder...
Chris Leslie | 522 c913-4 (Link to this contribution) As only a few minutes remain before the winding-up speeches, I shall be able to make only a limited ...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 522 c918 (Link to this contribution) I made this point in my speech: we should be concentrating not only on the BRIC countries, but on ot...
Tom Harris | 522 c918 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has outlined the impressive growth strategy being pursued by this Conservative-led Gove...
Lord Willetts | 522 c918 (Link to this contribution) I intend, time permitting, to go to Indonesia, where we have some specific trade objectives, and I t...
Margot James | 522 c910 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady mentioned the science base and investment. The Business, Innovation and Skills Committ...
Alison McGovern | 522 c910 (Link to this contribution) That is an interesting perspective, and I obviously have great respect for the learned people that t...
Alison McGovern | 522 c910-1 (Link to this contribution) I have given way twice; I will not give way again. The corporation tax cut will help only companies...
Alison McGovern | 522 c909-10 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry that the hon. Member for Northampton South (Mr Binley) has left his place, because he mad...
Tristram Hunt | 522 c910 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend as surprised as I am that the Government's policy seems to be replicated only by R...
John Hayes | 522 c911 (Link to this contribution) We do not have much time, so I will be brief. The hon. Lady is right that 16 to 18-year-olds are not...
Alison McGovern | 522 c911-2 (Link to this contribution) I am glad to hear the Minister's intervention; I have often found him to be a partner for peace on t...
Catherine McKinnell | 522 c906 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend aware that one of the major concerns of the construction industry is skills traini...
Jack Dromey | 522 c906 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. Representatives of the construction industry who have come to see me ha...
Jack Dromey | 522 c905-6 (Link to this contribution) When times are tough, it is all the more important for the Government to have a strategy for growth....
Marcus Jones | 522 c907 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman praises the RDA Advantage West Midlands. How does he square that praise with the ...
Jack Dromey | 522 c907 (Link to this contribution) I believe in the real world of work and in listening to the voice of the business community. There h...
Anne Marie Morris | 522 c906 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the Reed job index went up nine points in January, and that the gro...
Jack Dromey | 522 c906-7 (Link to this contribution) With the greatest respect, I am not sure what planet the hon. Lady lives on. The figures on the econ...
Marcus Jones | 522 c908-9 (Link to this contribution) It is an honour to follow the hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey) who has a very pos...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 522 c907 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman's experience of the business community in the west midlands is not mine. I have f...
Jack Dromey | 522 c907-8 (Link to this contribution) Again, with the greatest respect, I am not sure which business community the hon. Lady is talking ab...
Brian Binley | 522 c903 (Link to this contribution) I am incredulous that my hon. Friend was surprised at that fact.
Gavin Williamson | 522 c903 (Link to this contribution) I put it down to the naivety of youth. Hopefully age will make me wiser.
Alison McGovern | 522 c903 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman therefore explain, for the benefit of the House, why one of the Government's...
Gavin Williamson | 522 c904 (Link to this contribution) As hon. Members say, the name was changed to the Department for Education because that is what it is...
Tom Blenkinsop | 522 c904 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman aware that in 1987, 26,000 worked at British Steel and Redcar Teesside Cast Pr...
Gavin Williamson | 522 c904 (Link to this contribution) I was unaware of that but I thank the hon. Gentleman for saying so. We need a revival of all manufac...
Neil Carmichael | 522 c904 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes some fascinating points. I am amazed that we are talking about the machinery of...
Gavin Williamson | 522 c904 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for such a—
Speaker | 522 c904 (Link to this contribution) Order. Will the hon. Gentlemen resume their seats? There is a time limit on speeches, and also a tim...
Gavin Williamson | 522 c904-5 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Neil Carmichael) fo...
Lord Willetts | 522 c918-20 (Link to this contribution) We do not know what would have happened to the British economy if the Labour party had been in offic...
Vincent Cable | 522 c879 (Link to this contribution) It is a pity that the hon. Lady was not here to hear my speeches on this subject for the five years ...
Karl Turner | 522 c886 (Link to this contribution) When Labour left office, growth was picking up, unemployment was falling, inflation was low and the ...
Brian Binley | 522 c899 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. There were 236,000 cases last year—a record figure. That suggests that some...
Alison McGovern | 522 c910 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. As Bill Shankly used to say, ““I'm only surprised that...
David Lammy | 522 c877 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State prays in aid the example of the Student Loans Company. He will be aware that ...
Vincent Cable | 522 c877 (Link to this contribution) As it happens, 10 days ago I talked to representatives of British Steel's successor, Tata Steel in I...
Subjects
Banks Capital investment Apprentices Employment Finance Immigration Incentives Economic situation Economic growth Standards Tribunals Training Small businesses Regional planning and development Research Skilled workers Unemployment Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Cuts
Link
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