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Building Britain's Future

The hon. Gentleman must have been thinking about my next point about the region, namely our success in relation to jobs, skills and economic development for the future. The fact is that over the past 12 months there has been a global economic downturn, and businesses and people have had to find ways to weather that storm. Did they do that alone? No. This Government, unlike that of the 1980s, decided not to abandon a generation of young people to long-term unemployment. We are intervening decisively to ensure that the social impact of the disastrous policies of the ’80s is not repeated at the start of the 21st century. Last June, to ensure that we have a strong future, the Prime Minister published ““Building Britain’s Future””. It is a bold and radical strategy that maps out how the Government intend to help people and businesses through the recession, and to make the most of the upturn as it starts to happen. ““Building Britain’s Future”” spells out our plans for a new economy with a more active industrial policy to drive growth and to create the high-valued jobs of the future. We are investing to ensure that Britain can be at the forefront of the world’s new industries, and to ensure that our economy is underpinned by a first-class, modern infrastructure. We are establishing a new £150 million innovation fund to support some of the key technology based sectors. Since becoming Minister for the East Midlands, my priorities have become the economy, jobs and skills, because of the pressure of the global economic recession. That is why I established the regional economic cabinet, to bring together leaders from the business community, the public sector and the third sector to work together to tackle the financial global crisis’ impact on this region, and to challenge each other to deliver more in our respective organisations to provide help on the ground. The regional economic cabinet met earlier today to consider our response to ““New Industry, New Jobs””, the national strategy that was launched earlier this year to invest in Britain’s economic and industrial future. Key regional bodies, notably EMDA and Business Link, are working hard to deliver stability in response to the downturn. We are now investing in excess of £26 million in the future jobs fund, targeted support fund and modernisation grants to boost the capacity of the third sector, working alone or with partners, to respond to the downturn. The scale of the changes around us has been huge and will have long-term consequences. The changes have demanded action commensurate to that challenge from the Government. The region is building on firm foundations to develop competitive markets and a flexible work force, and I recently saw a fantastic example of that in the east midlands. At Loughborough university, when we launched ““New Industry, New Jobs””, the Prime Minister and Lord Mandelson, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, toured Intelligent Energy, which is a spin-off company from the university and a great example of the university’s contribution to the region’s success. The company manufactures three core technologies: clean hydrogen production and two fuel cell technologies. It has recently won a contract to build a fleet of hydrogen-fuelled London taxis for the 2012 Olympics. Such low-carbon industries are an existing strength of the east midlands economy, and the regional response led by EMDA, which I have commissioned, on ““New Industry, New Jobs”” will set out how we can continue to help that vital sector grow. We are backing business from the east midlands in a broad spectrum of industries, from life sciences and advanced manufacturing to the well-established automotive, aerospace and rail-stock sectors. Activities include the sustainable construction iHub in Daventry, which will demonstrate innovative, low-carbon design in the construction sector. EMDA’s escalator of finance will address gaps in the availability of finance for our region’s small and medium-sized enterprises. We also have more plans as a cabinet to work closely with the region’s banking sector, as I described earlier. A third example is Steetley Regeneration, which aims to regenerate a former brownfield site on the Nottinghamshire-Derbyshire border to create a state-of-the-art pre-cast concrete factory—many Members here will know about that. I believe that the east midlands is well-placed for recovery and growth because we have a vibrant economy. Meeting the business representatives from across the region in an event that I led in Grantham today emphasised the importance that businesses play in getting Government support. The representatives told me that they were still feeling the effects of the most challenging economic climate we have had for decades. But they said, I quote, that there is ““cautious optimism”” in the region that ““the worst is over””. We are weathering the global economic downturn, and without the support that the Government have given, imagine how much more severe the impact would have been on jobs, families, home and individuals. One indicator I want to emphasise, which I am concerned about and where my focus is more than any other indicator, is the number of young people affected by the global economic downturn, who find themselves in neither education, employment nor training. I do not think that it is right that we allow another generation of our young people to be written off, as they were in the ’80s. We are guaranteeing a sixth-form college or apprenticeship place to all school leavers. In the east midlands, that means almost 1,500 extra places this year, funded by an extra £4.8 million. From next year, every person under the age of 25 who has been out of work for 10 months will have a guaranteed offer of a place for job training or work experience. We will help adults who have been without a job for six months to set up a business, gain skills training or secure volunteer opportunities.