Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Oliver Colvile and Vince Cable

Thursday 11th September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

We will, and an administrative measure that will help that process is an increase in Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ enforcement budget. As my hon. Friend will know, the first stage in the process is to insist that the enforcement authorities address deficiencies in the minimum wage. She is right also to emphasise that the enforcement regime we inherited was a rather weak one.

[Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con)]

9. What steps he is taking to increase access to higher education.

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[Vince Cable]

That has been an active subject of discussion with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Indeed, we have had a social enterprise day supporting worker-owned enterprises, and a consultation is taking place at the moment on how such activity can be facilitated through the tax system. I note the hon. Gentleman’s comment about the churn of Ministers. I should point out that I have been in my present job longer than anyone since someone called Peter Thorneycroft in the early 1950s.

[Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con)]

T5. As my hon. Friend knows, Plymouth is the host of the Peninsula medical school. In the light of the Ashya King case, in which Ashya’s parents had to flee to another country to get treatment for him that was not available in the UK, what plans does he have to accelerate research into new drug and medical technology?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Oliver Colvile and Vince Cable

Thursday 23rd January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con)]

14. What steps he is taking to encourage more people to become engineers.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)]

The Government are working with employers, professional bodies and higher and further education institutions to implement the Perkins review of engineering skills and boost careers in engineering, particularly for women. In September we announced a £400 million boost for STEM—science, technology, engineering and maths—teaching in universities.

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[Vince Cable]

I cannot give my hon. Friend a precise number, but I know that a depth of engineering talent is arising from the island’s successful companies, both in the maritime sector and in aerospace. We want to build on that, and I would be absolutely delighted to meet him and his engineers on the Isle of Wight—I always enjoy a walk on Tennyson down.

[Oliver Colvile]

As my right hon. Friend knows, Devonport dockyard is the only naval dockyard in the country that refits and refurbishes our nuclear submarines. How have the Government helped—and how can we help—to make sure that we protect Britain’s nuclear engineering skills base and ensure that the work force are not lured away to Hinkley C, just up the peninsula?

[Vince Cable]

My hon. Friend is right to say that in an environment where there is an acute shortage of professional engineers and craftsmen, there is a tendency to poach skills. We see that happening in other sectors, like the motor car industry, oil and gas and so on. The answer is to produce more engineers, and he will be aware that in his constituency, or certainly in the city of Plymouth, we have the 600-place university technology college, which is growing with support from the Government. That is a very positive step forward, and I am sure he will be pleased with it.