Businesses: Technology

Lord Hamilton of Epsom Excerpts

Wednesday 10th April 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I cannot give any precise figures about how much is specifically targeted on the AI industry. The important point is to recognise, as did the PwC and other reports, what will happen in that industry: the advantages for it, how much it will grow and how well this country is doing. That is why I cited in my Answer the massive increase in inward investment—which is obviously an indication of what is happening to not only start-ups but scale-ups—of 17%, which is more than the rest of Europe combined.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, has my noble friend noticed that although the Opposition are complaining about the redundancies that will be caused by new technology, they are on the other hand complaining about the lack of productivity growth in this country, which will of course be achieved by the introduction of new technology?

[Lord Henley]

As always, my noble friend makes a valid point. We will see new jobs, better jobs, greater productivity and a general growth in the sector.

Employment: Automation

Lord Hamilton of Epsom Excerpts

Monday 1st April 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I am glad that the noble Lord recognises that there are very positive sides to developments in this field. As he will know, the World Economic Forum estimates that, although there might be some 75 million jobs lost globally as a result of change of this sort, another 133 million could be created. However, the noble Lord is right to point out that there will be disadvantages for people, particularly for those who are low-skilled and particularly—he mentioned the gender point—for women. Therefore, as the industrial strategy makes clear, it is very important that we look to retraining. I refer the noble Lord to large parts of the industrial strategy that point in the direction of retraining and upskilling our workforce as much as possible.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, can my noble friend tell us what happened to all the women who were employed as secretaries and personal assistants when the introduction of the word processor made them all redundant?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, my noble friend is quite right: they found new jobs, better jobs, more highly skilled jobs and, probably, more interesting jobs.

Nissan in Sunderland

Lord Hamilton of Epsom Excerpts

Tuesday 5th February 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I will not discuss specific grants for any specific type of vehicle. I have made it quite clear that we are committed to supporting research and suchlike in new technologies for new vehicles because things of this sort are changing. Getting any grant structure right is obviously very difficult. One wants to avoid perverse incentives that push people down the wrong route—one thinks possibly of incentives made in terms of the pricing of diesel. The fact is that we no longer support diesel in the way that previous Governments did, and that has had a big effect on the market. But we are committed to seeing new technologies emerge in this area.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords—

[Lord Birt (CB)]

My Lords—

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom]

No, it is not the turn of the Cross-Benches. We have just heard the noble Lord, Lord Hannay.

Does my noble friend accept that Nissan would have been absolutely mad to have gone ahead with the programme for the X-Trail when the whole of the market for diesel vehicles has collapsed? Does he accept that this is largely to do with the overreaction of European Governments, including our own, to the diesel emissions scandal, which was started by Volkswagen in Germany?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I am not going to allocate blame, particularly because, as I mentioned earlier, my wife was one of those who made the mistake of buying a VW just before the diesel scandal erupted. The fact is that there has been a concerted attempt to reduce the number of diesel cars, for whatever reason. For that reason, Nissan has to make hard-headed decisions about what cars it invests in and in which plants it should be investing.

Fourth Industrial Revolution

Lord Hamilton of Epsom Excerpts

Wednesday 15th November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, it would be wrong for me to make any promises regarding legislation as I have the beady eye of the Chief Whip on me. This House and another place will be fairly busy with what we will be doing over the coming year, but I certainly take on board all the noble Baroness’s other suggestions. We welcome what she has to say.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, does my noble friend accept that inequalities have very much been caused by central banks printing money, which the European Central Bank continues to do? This finds its way into assets, so those who own assets get richer while those who do not stay where they are. Does he not agree that if the Labour Party’s principle is that it should print more money, that situation will get worse, not better?

[Lord Henley]

My noble friend makes a very good point.

Small Businesses: Late Payments

Lord Hamilton of Epsom Excerpts

Monday 11th September 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, I do not have that figure. The noble Lord is absolutely right that there is now an obligation on big companies to be transparent in their reporting. That came in in April 2017 and is done on an annual basis, so we will not know until April 2018 how many companies are doing it.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, when the late Lord Weinstock’s GEC took three months to pay my small engineering company, when it should have taken a month, I sued him in the county court and everything changed dramatically. Small companies are reluctant to sue big ones, but they fail to take into account that the accounts departments of these ginormous companies very rarely talk to the sales departments.

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, the noble Lord makes a very good point. Small companies are often reticent to take on big ones, in the fear that they will lose business in the future. Making that relationship easier is one of the reasons why we are appointing the Small Business Commissioner. Where public contracts are involved, we have a mystery shopping service, which enables small companies to ask the Government, on their behalf, to verify late payment and understand why it is taking place.

Brexit: Aerospace and Automotive Industries

Lord Hamilton of Epsom Excerpts

Tuesday 14th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, the issues raised by the VCA are broadly the same as those for the EASA, the MHRA and lots of other regulatory authorities in this country. The relationship between our national regulators and the European regulatory authorities is obviously extremely important and will be the subject of negotiations over the next two years.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, can my noble friend confirm that there is not an Audi, Mercedes or Volkswagen that is not assembled outside this country? German exports of these cars to the United Kingdom are absolutely massive, and the Germans will have every interest in seeing that that trade continues without tariff barriers.

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, it is clear that there is a huge mutuality of interest in negotiating a free, frictionless trade agreement between the EU and the UK. In the car industry and industries where, as the noble Baroness indicated in her question, there are integrated supply chains, it is doubly in the interests of both parties to negotiate such an agreement.

Brexit: Single Market and Workers’ Rights

Lord Hamilton of Epsom Excerpts

Monday 16th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

I cannot answer that question specifically. Clearly, being part of the single market has increased the number of jobs in this country. The Prime Minister is making a speech tomorrow about global Britain, and we are absolutely clear, being part of the global economy, that we believe fully in free trade and that our country must become more competitive.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, should trade union leaders not be very careful about calling for the United Kingdom to remain in the single market when that brings with it free movement of labour, and so many of their members voted leave because they were alarmed by unlimited immigration?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My noble friend raises an interesting point, which I think many trade union leaders recognise. Unquestionably, there are parts of the country where high levels of immigration have undermined the wage rates of local people. I think we would all agree that one of the benefits of having control over our immigration policy is that we can have a policy which is more directly suited to our requirements.