Speeches by Bance.

“Yet I am sure you would accept that, if we see further significant industrial withdrawals from the UK, that will be seen as a verdict on the success of our industrial strategy.”

“Again, my question is to the Business Secretary. We saw the chair of the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council at a point when she was very newly appointed. She was clear that it was not to be her job to protect good jobs in existing industries that were experiencing crisis but could continue to thrive. We all know that…”

“Do you have any comments on the national security exemption and the further use of that to support the UK steel industry?”

“Thank you for indulging me, Sir John, and for letting me speak after I walked in so late. I also thank the hon. Member for Reigate (Rebecca Paul) and congratulate her on securing this important debate. We have heard today how strategically important the automotive industry is for our country and about the £93 billion t…”

“Skills England is about to come into being. Are you appropriately represented in the governance of Skills England? How does it need to work in order for you to deliver on the type of vision that you have set out?”

“Can you tell us about the best examples of UK research and development institutions supporting the industrial strategy today? What lessons can we take from these success stories and what barriers are in the way of us spreading this approach to the eight sectors earmarked by the Government?”

“The previous panel would have said that the answer to the question of who someone should talk to about Wednesbury would be Business Growth West Midlands, the mayor’s executive agency for growing the Black Country and the wider mayoral region. Would that be your sense? Is there a role for the devolved institutions there…”

“Thank you, Mr Godfrey. I appreciated the reference to Wednesbury. If anyone would like to invest in Wednesbury, I would love to talk to them. We will make time immediately after this meeting.”

“Shall we start with Andy then?”

“We have had a number of local strategies and plans over the years, including local industrial strategies. How will local growth plans avoid the same problems that these plans have had in the past?”

“My constituency of Tipton, Wednesbury and Coseley, in the Black Country, is a proud manufacturing area and the birthplace of the industrial revolution. Will the Minister please tell me what she is doing to increase the uptake of manufacturing and engineering apprenticeships across the country and in the west midlands?”

“It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I congratulate my hon. Friend and sister the Member for Jarrow and Gateshead East (Kate Osborne) on securing this debate. I am a proud trade unionist, a proud Black Country MP and a proud lesbian MP—out for 26 years and now out here in this place. I rise to add …”

“My hon. Friend and sister is absolutely correct. There are a load of stupid barriers that do not reflect modern families and how we form our relationships nowadays. People do form second partnerships, and people do have existing children. Frankly, when many people are delaying childbearing and when fertility problems a…”

“On that point about people who are mid-career, by definition they have a car loan, a mortgage and kids. How do we make it financially possible for them to take a break to retrain? I would appreciate your thoughts on that point.”

“There are other issues that the industrial strategy has to get right. We have spoken about skills and energy costs. I would be interested in your thoughts on land and access to finance. Those are the two other issues that are coming out in the responses to the industrial strategy. Brian, shall I start with you this tim…”

“What reassurance can you give the workforce and the community in Oxford that Oxford, and your other plants around the UK, will remain the home of the electric Mini into the future, if it is so easy for a group such as BMW to use this flexibility to review these investments?”

“Does anyone else on the panel want to come in on skills? In the changes to the growth levy, perhaps there is some way that some of the funding could be reprofiled from the higher courses to the lower and medium courses. Certainly, in my constituency the need is for the 3s and 4s, not 6s and 7s.”

“David, you must be pleased that Skills England is coming to Coventry. It is nice and close for you to be able to pop round and tell them what is what.”

“We have talked about energy. We have touched on the problem with skills. I wanted to hear a little bit more about what you think the solutions in the skills landscape are. I will start with Stephen, please.”

“Mr Hardie, you and your colleagues have mentioned some of the regulatory barriers that need to come down for the options in Project Willow to be realistic. I think it is important for this Committee to shine a light on what those regulatory barriers are, where they sit and what your confidence is that they can be remov…”