Julian Huppert
Main Page: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)Department Debates - View all Julian Huppert's debates with the Department for Education
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Jo Swinson
The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. Work is already being undertaken by the Treasury on the tax-specific issue of what happens with umbrella companies. He may be aware that last month my right hon. Friend the Business Secretary announced an employment status review so that we can look in more detail at the different types of employment status and at how that system is working, between worker and employer, and with the use of self-employed contracts and umbrella companies. We are looking forward to the results of that review, which will be covering these issues.
Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)
13. What steps he is taking to support the technology cluster in Cambridge.
The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy (Mr Edward Vaizey)
We are doing an enormous amount but, as I know you want Ministers to be brief, Mr Speaker, I shall simply highlight the £500 million Greater Cambridge city deal; the £71 million local enterprise partnership growth deal, which is investing in a biomedical innovation centre and agri-tech growth initiative; and, of course, the research partnership investment fund, which is investing £25 million in a therapeutic immunology and infectious disease institute.
Dr Huppert
I thank the Minister for all that. The Cambridge tech sector is doing well, directly employing 53,000 people and bringing in £13 billion, but we could contribute much more to the UK if given further support. May I press him to support our call for more localised power and funding towards a Cambridge promotions agency, and to implement the recommendations in Sherry Coutu’s scale-up report, which came out this week and contained advice for the whole country?
Mr Vaizey
The hon. Gentleman can always press me on those issues, and he rightly highlights the extraordinary success of technology in Cambridge, with 1,500 companies, two $10 billion companies and 10 $1 billion companies. Of course, we will look at Sherry Coutu’s report with interest.