"I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Wyre and Preston North (Mr Wallace), but I can assure him that it is not our party that is obsessed with Europe. I think he needs to get his own house in order.
"My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The combination of social value and the creation of social investment through crowdsourcing, peer-to-peer lending and the activities of the Big Society Capital bank, which was a Labour idea, will take us along precisely that track.
"Q5. What steps he is taking to implement the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 in his Department in relation to its procurement procedures; and what guidance his Department has given to its agencies on this matter...." Hazel Blears - View Speech
"I thank the Minister for that reply, but as economic growth and job creation are proving somewhat elusive for the Government, will he now take practical steps to include in major infrastructure contracts—such as High Speed 2, defence procurement and house building programmes—social value clauses that promote local labour, apprenticeships, …..." Hazel Blears - View Speech
"My hon. Friend is making a powerful case. I have had the pleasure of visiting his constituency and having a drink of beer in Hartlepool at the time of his election. My community in Salford and Eccles is similar to the community in Hartlepool. We have a great brewery, Joseph …..." Hazel Blears - View Speech
"My hon. Friend is clearly well versed and an expert on these issues. As well as the economic costs, there are clearly important social costs to our pubs closing. A constituency such as mine has only a handful of remaining public houses, many of them intimidating places where the general …..." Hazel Blears - View Speech
"In drawing up the agreements for such significant expenditure, what account will the Chief Secretary take of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, so that we can secure a social, environmental and economic impact from such contracts—in particular, through employment and training opportunities for young people—and ensure that the …..." Hazel Blears - View Speech
"It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Weaver Vale (Graham Evans). I thought the beginning of his speech was unusually partisan. He is normally a man who seeks consensus, and I hope that for the benefit of the north-west region we can agree today about what is …..." Hazel Blears - View Speech
"I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern about his local green belt. If he can encourage his party’s Front Benchers to invest more in brownfield sites in the north-west, where we can build communities, I will take on his housing allocation tomorrow to ensure that we can house our people...." Hazel Blears - View Speech