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Building Britain's Future

I want to follow the remarks made by my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, South, because we are talking about how to prepare for the upturn going into a new world. It is very important that we keep that emphasis. We have a proud history in our region of imaginative adaptation to new worlds. We can look at the brilliance of Arkwright and Strutt, the textiles manufacturers, and how we adapted as that industry disappeared down the Derwent valley into using its potential for our tourism industry. We adapted to those circumstances. In my area, as the pits declined, industrial parks were set up, which is why we still have a fairly substantial manufacturing base, although we have got considerable difficulties at the moment. We have a proud history of adaptation to change. As well as looking at innovative changes, we also need to pay attention to our traditional industries. With regard to the Derwent valley I am most disappointed that, because of the way in which the Tory borough council in Amber Valley handled its finances, the council had to make a large number of cuts last year, including closing the tourist office in Ripley, where many visitors were directed towards our industrial heritage down the Derwent valley and in other local areas. I shall highlight a couple of examples of sustainable, innovative adaptation to change that we need locally. I note that the document that we are discussing today includes a strategic approach to the Government’s role as a market shaper. I want to take this opportunity to seek support for a regulation that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is about to put out for consultation. Yesterday, the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Wansdyke (Dan Norris), visited the BPI factory on an industrial estate in Heanor. Plastics used to be seen as modern, innovative, wonderful products, but now everyone hates them and wants them to be recycled. BPI is the largest manufacturer of polythene film in Europe, with about 18 plants around the country. In the plant in my constituency, it has moved from being a leader in packaging and a producer of plastic bags to being a company that recycles plastics. However, one of its problems is that it cannot get hold of plastic waste to recycle, because the waste is going into landfill rather than coming back to the plant. One of its products, which it produces with another plant and which is an example of the kind of innovative approach that we need to encourage, is farm plastic. Bales of silage and hay at farms are covered by a durable plastic produced by BPI. BPI wants to take responsibility for recycling farm plastic, but only 20 per cent. of it is recycled. Most of it is just buried, or it goes to Vietnam, China or Malaysia, where it is washed in rivers. It is taken overseas to be cleaned but not recycled. The regulation will not be a burden on business, and it will stimulate the market. It will allow a company that has invested in its equipment to use that equipment to recycle the products that it has produced, and it will also stop farmers having to pay the cost of collection. We need a regulation to implement that scheme. It is the sort of imaginative thing that we need to do to square the circle on some issues, so that a product that could be a problem can be recycled into, for example, the bags that the NHS is using to tackle the current problem with swine flu, the sacks that we get from supermarkets to put rubbish in or street furniture, which we want to be durable and made from plastic. That would be a positive result. Other areas also need to be looked at. In the Select Committee on Energy and Climate Change, we were given the example of Rolls-Royce working with a small Bristol-based company to produce a tidal turbine, which is now in the Orkneys. Those are some of the things that we need to do locally. We need to look at using innovation in the upturn for sustainability. We also need to make sure that we are providing opportunities for the disadvantaged in our society. We are seeking a date for my hon. Friend the Minister to visit the Holbrook Centre for Autism. We have talked about trying to provide care for people with disabilities, but we also want to provide work and opportunities for those people. The centre has a social enterprise project that produces hanging baskets of flowers in conjunction with a local company, and I was fortunate enough to be able to take that project to Downing street with my hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire. We want to give opportunities to people with disabilities to contribute to the economy in the future as well as just being cared for. We need to look at opportunities for developing innovation as we prepare for the upturn in a way that meets the challenges of the new world and that does not involve going back to the past. As has been said, that will include a huge amount of investment in training and innovation. I have been most disappointed by the negative approach of the Opposition to the Train to Gain programme, which has helped firms in my constituency. We also need to ensure that such programmes address the issue of equality. I was pleased when Rolls-Royce sponsored a group from Heanor Gate science college in my constituency to go to the engineering fair at the Queen Elizabeth Centre in London. The initiative is about encouraging students to go into engineering, and there were as many girls on that programme as boys. There is a development on the estate where my office is. I am delighted that the person building one of the new offices has been sent to St. Petersburg to engage in an international competition for roofing and tiling. We have good people and positive examples in our area. Let us prepare for the upturn in a way that fits the new world in terms of sustainability and opportunities for those with difficulties, so that we can go forward with confidence.