Philip Hollobone
Main Page: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)Department Debates - View all Philip Hollobone's debates with the Department for Education
(10 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Vince Cable
The hon. Gentleman seems to have forgotten the record of the last Government. I distinctly remember that in one of the last pieces of legislation that I dealt with in the previous Parliament, the Government started to impose business rates on empty property. That was a few months before the collapse in the commercial property market.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
2. How many and what proportion of employees of Royal Mail opted out of the allocation of free shares.
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)
Of the approximately 150,000 employees who were eligible for free employee shares, only 372 opted out of the scheme. Therefore, 99.75% of employees have accepted the shares that we offered them.
Mr Hollobone
Is not the number of posties who have opted out of the scheme remarkably low? Despite the threats of industrial action and union militancy, is it not clear that the vast majority of Royal Mail employees have accepted the invitation from Her Majesty’s Government to take part in the biggest employee share scheme of any major privatisation?
Vince Cable
Yes, it is a very positive story. The engagement of almost every employee of Royal Mail is extremely encouraging. I seem to remember that under the last Labour Government we lost in the order of 2 million working days through industrial action in every single year. This is a big change for the better.