Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Alison McGovern and Mark Prisk(11 years, 4 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Mr Prisk
We want to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start up, and that is why today we have opened a new shop in the Department in Victoria street for six businesses to trade, rotating every fortnight. Working with PopUp Britain, we want this shop to be an exemplar for others right across the country. I would say to local government leaders and to landlords, “Let’s take this examplar and roll it out across the country”. I am happy to invite my hon. Friend to see it for himself—and, indeed, the Opposition Front-Bench team, as I hope they will be able to apply this principle and follow our lead across the country.
Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)
Wirral council has done a huge amount of work to regenerate Bromborough village and New Ferry town centre in my constituency. It wants to continue doing this into the future, but its ability to do so is severely constrained by cuts. It is the season of good will, so may I ask the Minister to set a new year’s resolution and treat Wirral council better next year than he has this year?
Mr Prisk
It is a little early for new year’s resolutions, but I am always happy to take a collaborative approach to this issue. It is about funding, but it is also about ensuring that there is innovation on the ground, and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Macclesfield (David Rutley) said, it is about strong local leadership, too. I hope that that is what we will see in the Wirral.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Alison McGovern and Mark Prisk(12 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)
One in 10 people in the north-west of England works in manufacturing, whereas just 3% in London work in manufacturing. The sharp fall in the purchasing managers index last month showed that all may not be well with UK manufacturing. Will the Secretary of State or the Minister therefore confirm that UK Trade & Investment will publish annually the regional impact of its work, so that we can be sure that Government policy works for all economies in Britain?
Mr Prisk
We will go further than that: we are making sure that UKTI is focused like a laser on small businesses in the manufacturing sector. That is why we are changing the budget and the structure, and making sure that in the regions outside the south-east there is a strong network—a strong set of roots—so that we can support manufacturing more effectively than the Labour party did in 12 years in office.