Mr Michael Trend: I am sorry to have missed parts of the debate. I was present for the opening exchanges but then had to attend Standing Committee A. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field), who made a characteristically thoughtful speech. However, I cannot agree that the fourth carriage has become decoupled. That is certainly not the case according to the evidence of the...
Mr Michael Trend: We have heard much about certain cases today. I shall return to the essential elements of the debate as outlined by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State at the beginning. Like most hon. Members, I receive a substantial postbag every day crammed with letters demanding extra spending on all the items that we are discussing today. As all hon. Members should, I point out to my...
Mr Michael Trend: I make it a point of principle never to discuss the affairs of the people who live in the castle. A little way down our main shopping street, Peascod street, there is a thriving town in its own right which, like all towns in the Thames valley, has had to fight hard to retain the loyalty of local shoppers. That is the Windsor which most of my constituents know and it does not sit easily...
Mr Michael Trend: I welcome the Bill and the overall progress of the Government's health reforms. I recently had the honour to attend an international conference at one of the royal colleges at which people from health services all over the world were gathered. It was clear that our health reforms were in the international league and that other countries were looking to us with our experience. Not all of them...
Mr Michael Trend: The hon. Gentleman has made the rather serious allegation that some services might be dumped as a result of the Bill. Would he care to give us an example?
Mr Michael Trend: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many young people have taken up training credits; and what plans he has to extend the scheme.
Mr Michael Trend: Can my right hon. Friend confirm that the volume and variety of training experience for our young people has increased through training credits, and that modern apprenticeships should further increase the scope of training opportunities for our young people?
Mr Michael Trend: There has been much to admire in this morning's debate, although I fear that one cannot admire the guerrilla tactics of the Opposition some moments ago. I enormously admired the way in which my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Mrs. Lait) brought up the subject. I also admire the way in which my hon. Friend the Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts) managed to get in an advertisement...
Mr Michael Trend: I wonder whether my hon. Friend has read the evidence that Gottfried Bruder gave the Trade and Industry Select Committee, in which he said: In most continental countries most people would have no problem in declaring that the broadest possible general knowledge is an integral part of education. Vague concepts of personality formation … seem to dominate in Britain. That is one of our key...
Mr Michael Trend: Modest.
Mr Michael Trend: Does the hon. Gentleman accept that, during the 1980s, many of the wage increases were accompanied by increased productivity and output and were genuinely earned in that way for the first time for many generations? What this country needs is a high-wage, high-skill, high-productivity and high-output economy, not, as he seems to suggest, a low-wage economy.
Mr Michael Trend: Will the hon. Gentleman give way on that subject?
Mr Michael Trend: Does the hon. Gentleman agree that, although we are all disappointed at the low percentage of money that is put into research and development, the picture in the past couple of years, especially through the past recession, has been much better than it was in the past—that companies have become aware of the importance of R and D and that they are putting more money into R and D? It is a low...
Mr Michael Trend: Does my hon. Friend accept that for smaller firms BS5750 puts a great burden on their resources and time? Many such firms feel that it is essential to get 5750 status because so many firms that they supply insist on the standard. In some instances, however, it has become a pointless and damaging exercise for small firms.
Mr Michael Trend: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what targets have been set for the uptake of general national vocational qualifications among 16 to 19-year-olds over the next three years.
Mr Michael Trend: Does my hon. Friend agree that there should be parity of esteem between GNVQs and A-levels, particularly for employment purposes? What are the Government doing to achieve that, bearing in mind the fact that many Conservative Members do not want a dilution of the high standards for A-levels?
Mr Michael Trend: Madam speaker, I spy strangers.
Mr Michael Trend: Has the hon. Gentleman considered the point that if a Government were to introduce right-to-know legislation, they would be very popular? In the run up to a general election, and having introduced such legislation, they would receive popular—not populist—support. In many respects, although not in respect of reforming the Official Secrets Act 1911, the hon. Gentleman's Right to Know Bill...
Mr Michael Trend: The hon. Gentleman referred to blockbuster legislation. Some of us believe that there is a difference between rights-based legislation such as he is proposing and the discretion of the Government to allow certain matters to be opened to public scrutiny. There is, however, much common ground between the two. It appears that the hon. Gentleman and the Government agree on a mixed approach. The...
Mr Michael Trend: In the spirit of the debate, can my hon. Friend tell me whether company A or company B made any donations to any political party?
