My Lords, it is an enormous privilege, as ever, to address your Lordships, particularly on a subject so dear to my heart—supporting great British enterprise. I must declare my interest as the chief executive of TalkTalk Telecom Group.
As a business person, I am proud to support a Bill that will strengthen the UK’s position as the best place in Europe—perhaps even the world—to start and grow a business. The measures in this Bill will undoubtedly benefit all businesses, but I particularly welcome their focus on Britain’s SMEs. As many of your Lordships have already said, SMEs are the lifeblood our economy, employing over half our workforce and accounting for 99% of all British businesses, but, of course, they are also the seed-corn that creates big businesses. We want to encourage a vibrant and dynamic economy that drives growth from small businesses into big. Put
simply, we will not fulfil our potential as a country without a thriving small business sector.
This Bill contains a number of elements, as many have said. In the interests of brevity, I want to focus on just two areas where I have personal specific experience: the role of regulation, and the importance of investing in a skilled workforce. The right, good regulatory framework is at the heart of how we ensure Britain is the best place in the world to run a business. As a passionate believer in free markets, I fundamentally think that consumers make better decisions than Governments do. Where markets are competitive and informed consumers are sovereign, companies are forced to constantly innovate, improve the quality of their services and put a downward pressure on prices. That may make life harder for established companies in the short term, but ultimately it benefits customers and ensures that our industries and our economy remain globally competitive.
The risk is that regulation, however well intentioned, becomes a barrier to that competitiveness. Where it becomes excessive or burdensome, it restricts innovation and risks forcing up prices for consumers while making lawyers richer. That hits the poorest hardest. I very much welcome the ambitions in the Bill to tackle red tape and bad regulation. However, regulation is not all bad. A much more successful entrepreneur than I am who comes from Silicon Valley once coined the phrase that monopolies are like children: if you do not have any, you do not really understand what the fuss is all about, but once you have a child of your own, you will fight to the end of your days to protect it. Monopolies are exactly the same, which is why, if you want to have strong competitive markets, strong regulators are equally important. I very much welcome the balance the Bill brings in making sure that we create a strong regulatory framework but focus also on hunting out red tape and bureaucracy, which hinder small businesses particularly. It is small businesses that are most hindered by having to deal with an army of regulators or lawyers, much more so than the big companies such as the ones I run.
Taking a couple of specifics, extending the business impact target to require regulators to consider the economic impact of their actions is a very good discipline. It is a welcome safeguard against the risk of overregulation becoming a barrier to our nation’s competitiveness and it will allow for deregulation wherever possible. That is to be welcomed. On the other hand, introducing regulation in the form of the Small Business Commissioner is also to be welcomed. That is exactly the sort of good regulation that we should encourage. I am sure that we will discuss in some detail in Grand Committee exactly how the Small Business Commissioner’s responsibilities should be set up but I encourage my noble friend the Minister to make sure that we keep that regulation as light as possible and do not fall into the trap of trying to define in so much detail that we err on the side of creating bad and complex regulation. Wherever possible, we want to create organisations that have a simple, clear brief to add to the role played by those 70 existing regulators.
Briefly, my second theme is apprenticeships. I really welcome the Bill’s commitment to ensuring that Britain has the high-skilled workforce we need to compete. As
a chief executive, I know that the quality of my workforce—its skills—is absolutely the most important asset that any company can have, the most important ingredient in our success. Arguably, for far too long in this country we have been guilty of attaching disproportionate weight to academic qualifications—I say this as someone who is well overeducated. Of course we want to encourage people to apply for degrees and of course we want to aspire to having some of the best educational establishments in the world, but the Government are absolutely right to focus on expanding the range of vocational opportunities as well. Talent comes in many forms and we must ensure that we have the tools to help every young person fulfil their potential. That means a diverse mix of opportunities rather than career straitjackets.
Apprenticeships are undoubtedly an important part of this and I welcome the measures in the Bill to increase the number of apprenticeships in the public sector and to protect the quality of apprenticeships and the brand “apprenticeship” itself. But we must also remember that, just as degrees are not the only qualifications worth having, apprenticeships are only one form of vocational education. As well as delivering 3 million apprenticeships, I urge the Government to look at how we continue to support other activity that allows employers to invest in the training and recruitment of young people. That means encouraging long-term partnerships between companies and educational institutions; expanding the role of work experience and sandwich placements; encouraging flexible working arrangements that encourage and incentivise people to pursue new qualifications while still at work; and recognising that one size does not fit all. As we expand apprenticeships, it is crucial that we build the broadest range of opportunities for the broadest range of talents.
In summary, this is a very important Bill. I have touched on only two elements—regulation and vocational education—but I hope I have shown in a small way how the Bill will support businesses and customers and expand opportunities for our young people. That does not benefit just those directly affected, it helps to create the long-term growth our economy urgently needs to thrive and, with that, to make affordable the benefits that we would like to see cover all portions of society. I am proud to support the Bill.
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