Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alison McGovern and Sajid Javid

Tuesday 11th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

The people with the least productive, lowest-paid jobs, although often highly skilled, are women working in care, retail or hospitality. Where is the Chancellor’s productivity plan for the women in our country?

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Lady will be pleased to know that we have more women in employment than ever before in our history, and that the gender pay gap is the narrowest ever recorded. However, she is right: we need to do more, and more investment will help, whether it is in infrastructure or skills. What will also help is our new points-based immigration system. Too often businesses have sought to take unskilled labour from abroad and cut the wages of people locally, and we must put an end to that as well.

Spending Round 2019

Debate between Alison McGovern and Sajid Javid

Wednesday 4th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

The Chancellor claims that this is a boom in public spending, but we all know how big the bust has been, and nowhere has it been bigger than in DWP spending. Its spending will see a real-terms rise of 1.9%, which is welcome, but I ask the Chancellor: taking into account increases in the state pension and population increases, will he commit to no further cuts within that budget to working-age benefits?

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Lady will know that this spending round covers day-to-day departmental spending and that the vast majority of DWP spending is not covered by day-to-day spending. So, when we get to a Budget, we can say much more about DWP spending. She will also recognise that this spending round will help more vulnerable people by protecting our economy and making sure it continues to grow and to generate jobs, which is the best way out of poverty.

Future Immigration

Debate between Alison McGovern and Sajid Javid

Wednesday 19th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Gentleman is clearly lobbying for a pay rise for all members of the Cabinet—I will leave that to him, but it is not something the Cabinet is asking for. It is important that the threshold for the highly skilled visa route set out in the White Paper is based on evidence and works for each part of the country. The MAC has suggested—I emphasise that this is based on its own independent research—that the threshold should be £30,000, but further work and extensive engagement with businesses, devolved authorities, Members of Parliament and others is required to determine what that should actually be.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

I think that my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting) actually wanted a pay cut for members of the Cabinet. I had thought that the Home Secretary was a free marketeer, but what he has given us today is a bureaucrats charter to increase paperwork and red tape around business. The White Paper states, on page 47:

“The MAC has recommended lowering the skills threshold for the new skilled workers…while maintaining the minimum salary threshold of £30,000.”

This is clearly not a skills-based immigration policy, but a money-based immigration policy. Will he therefore explain how on earth he thinks our country plans to deal with its demographic challenge?

[Sajid Javid]

I am afraid that I do not agree with the hon. Lady’s assertions. She suggests that somehow this will lead to more bureaucracy and red tape, but having no cap and no resident labour market test for high-skilled workers and more use of e-gates are all examples of where there will be less bureaucracy and less red tape.

National Planning Policy Framework

Debate between Alison McGovern and Sajid Javid

Monday 5th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I can give my hon. Friend that reassurance. One of the two consultations today is specifically about developer contributions—something that has not been looked at for years and years. It will deal with the issue of where, particularly with large developments, certain promises are made at the start that are never kept. That is unacceptable, and we are going to take action.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

When I tell my constituents in New Ferry that the Secretary of State wants less talk and more action, they will not know whether to laugh or cry. We have been trying to build homes in New Ferry since the terrible blast last year, and we have had little action from the Government. That is why the Metro Mayor for Liverpool, Steve Rotheram, and I wrote to the Secretary of State on 13 February asking him to do more. He has not replied. What on earth is going on?

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Lady may be aware of this—if she is not, I am sure it will be welcome news—but Homes England is discussing with her local authority exactly how it could help. I hope that is something she supports.

Local Government Finance Settlement

Debate between Alison McGovern and Sajid Javid

Tuesday 19th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

Yes, my hon. Friend raises an important point. We had a number of representations from local authorities for us to provide some continuity and certainty on the new homes bonus, which is exactly what I have proposed today. I hope that continues to lead councils such as Rugby, and others, to plan for the homes and commercial property that local communities need, so that they can have stronger local business and enterprise.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

Cash-strapped Wirral Council has found more than £300,000 to deal with the consequences of the New Ferry explosion. So far the Government have not done enough. Will the Secretary of State update me as to their response to Wirral Council’s rebuild plan for New Ferry?

[Sajid Javid]

I am determined to try to help with that disaster and help the council deal with it. The council would have helped itself by presenting its business case a lot earlier, and not taking months and months to put it together. The council should show better efficiency with the public money it has. For example, it could stop spending 240,000 a year on a local newspaper publication. Things like that would help build local confidence.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alison McGovern and Sajid Javid

Monday 4th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I agree with the direction my hon. Friend sets out. One issue highlighted in the housing White Paper, which we are tackling as we implement it, is how we make sure that we have more diversity of supply. That includes different types of supply, including custom-build and co-operatives. My hon. Friend is right to highlight that and I commend him for his work in this area.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

In New Ferry, we are desperate to build new homes as part of the regeneration following last March’s explosion. I am still disappointed that the Government refused to help with emergency costs for New Ferry, but will the Secretary of State confirm that he received Wirral Council’s email of last week containing the regeneration plan, and will he now step forward and fund the regeneration that New Ferry desperately needs?

[Sajid Javid]

I can confirm to the hon. Lady that we have just received the local council’s plan—I believe we received it five days ago, having waited five months. I am not sure why it took it so long, but now that we have received it, we will take a close look at it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alison McGovern and Sajid Javid

Monday 17th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

We will be bringing forward proposals very shortly to implement what is in the housing White Paper, under which ancient woodland will receive the same protection as green belt.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for the northern powerhouse, the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Jake Berry), for visiting New Ferry in my constituency, where the House will remember there was recently a terrible explosion. As a result of that meeting, the leader of the council in Wirral, Phil Davies, has written to the Minister. May I ask him to expedite a reply to that letter?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alison McGovern and Sajid Javid

Tuesday 15th March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Alison McGovern]

3. What assessment he has made of trends in the level of lending to small businesses by (a) banks and (b) alternative finance institutions in the last five years.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade (Sajid Javid)]

I was about to get a warning. Maybe I will get it in a moment. The stock of bank lending to small businesses fell after the financial crisis but is now recovering, with four consecutive quarters of positive lending. Peer-to-peer business lending is becoming increasingly important as an alternative to bank finance. It has grown from £20 million in 2011 to nearly £1.5 billion in 2015.

[Alison McGovern]

I am sorry, Mr. Speaker. Given the Secretary of State’s proximity to the Chancellor, perhaps he does not need a warning. Perhaps he has already given a warning about the Budget, as he probably knows that in the north-west we have seen just half the business investment in SMEs of that in London. Clearly, something has gone wrong with the long-term economic plan if we are not seeing rebalancing, so what conversation have the Secretary of State and his Ministers had with the Treasury about its attack on other financial institutions—for example, building societies?

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Lady is right to raise the importance of credit throughout every region of the UK for everyone who thinks a vibrant growing economy is important. We talk regularly with the Treasury about these issues—for example, about the work we do through the British Business Bank, which has provided more than £2.4 billion of financing over the past four years, helping some 40,000 businesses, many of them in the north-west.

Royal Bank of Scotland

Debate between Alison McGovern and Sajid Javid

Thursday 13th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. RBS has ended what I referred to as the rescue phase. Stephen Hester successfully brought the bank back from the brink and has started to refocus it, and the new strategy that RBS has set out will focus it even more on lending to UK businesses and households?

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

The decisions made about RBS’s future represent a huge impact on the public finances, so where is the Chancellor?

[Sajid Javid]

I answered that question earlier.