I believe that, thanks to the Bill, small businesses will be able to achieve their goals. We are removing red tape and implementing policies that will let them get on with running their businesses and helping to grow our economy further, on both a national and, equally importantly, a local scale. I am sure that all colleagues would welcome that.
In my constituency, it is possible to see how enterprise has been able to flourish in recent years. Since 2010, some 5,800 new apprenticeships have been created, thanks to the Government’s long-term economic plan—that means over 5,000 more young people in my area in work and learning valuable skills that will help them to pursue a full-time career and get on in life. Every apprentice I have met when I have visited businesses in my constituency has been positive about the experience and their future plans. It is crucial, therefore, that the Government meet their goal of delivering 3 million apprenticeships and continue the great progress being made in constituencies such as mine.
Apprenticeships are crucial to allowing young people a valuable insight into industry and teaching them many valuable skills they could not have picked up in the classroom. We all acknowledge that university or college is not for everyone. Apprenticeships allow everyone an equal opportunity to enter the workplace. I saw just last week on a visit to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden how important apprenticeships were to the performing arts industry. From set designers to costume makers and stage managers, apprentices are crucial to passing down knowledge from one generation to the next. Those skills benefit other industries, as apprentices
go on to work in other areas, such as fashion design, and secure the survival of the creative industries. I am sure that the award-winning theatre in my constituency, the Royal and Derngate, will also benefit.
For that reason, I fully support the Bill and its aim of protecting the term “apprenticeship” from misuse, so that it will be treated in the same way as a traditional university degree. I am sure there can be nothing more frustrating for students than to learn that an opportunity labelled as an apprenticeship is not quite the real thing, when they have tried hard to be accepted on the programme and then put in so many hours. This is a move that I hope will be welcomed across the House—one that will ensure that apprenticeships are here to stay. I hope this means that they are now respected as much as a degree is—they rightly deserve to be.
There is some debate in my constituency on the issue of Sunday trading, but I fully support the measures that would let this be decided at local level. I support, too, the debate that would have to take place before my council could make any decision.
In a recent Centre for Cities report, Northampton was named the second-best place in the country, after London, for business start-ups. This is obviously great news and an amazing achievement by small businesses in Northampton. In the same period for 2013 and 2014, Northampton had the highest average increase in the number of businesses, at 9.9%, while it also had the UK’s second-highest rate of employment, at 78.6%.
I am pleased to have lobbied the Government for Northampton to receive an enterprise zone, which has played a vital role in the regeneration of the town, providing good-quality jobs and attracting high-calibre companies to Northampton. There are huge opportunities for businesses to grow there and to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit for which Northampton is rapidly becoming known. I know that this Bill will help the town’s businesses to continue to develop, and I know that its measures will be welcomed in my constituency and across the country.
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