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The South Today Debate

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Tonight, we're going to lift the lid on the hopes and fears for the

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South's economy. Inflation may be falling but unemployment is rising

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falling but unemployment is rising falling but unemployment is rising

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and people are being squeezed, so how can this region, often the UK's

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powerhouse, lift itself into recovery? That is what we are here

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to discuss tonight. Our economy, I'm Sally Taylor and welcome to the

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UK headquarters of Linde. The company here sells forklift trucks

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and there has been a unit here since 1949. More than 200 people

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work here. Tonight I am joined by people from all walks of life and

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we will begin by hearing from Ellie Hallmark, a mother of four. She has

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regularly missed meals when there is not enough money to feed the

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whole family. There just wasn't enough money to go round to buy the

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food to feed us, so something has to give. My oldest daughter said,

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Mum, I'm with you on this. We went without food. We just did not eat.

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Everything was going up in price, but your wages do not go up. My

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rent from the 2nd April will go up 7.1 per cent, so in effect it is

:01:46.:01:49.

another �40 a month they are expecting me to find, from where I

:01:49.:01:59.
:01:59.:02:01.

don't know. I'm not on minimum wage, far from it. I am willing to work

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every hour there is but the more I learn, the more they take and I'm

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sure of there's loads of other people like me out there and the

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Government are just ignoring it, just ignoring it.

:02:15.:02:19.

That is Ellie's story. Sadly Ellie cannot be with us tonight but it is

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a typical story of some people and I will talk to Hayley. You are a

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public sector worker. Most public sector workers have had their pay

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frozen, you have had yours cut. How has it affected you? I'm basically

:02:37.:02:40.

�250-�300 worse off because they have imposed a pay cut in order to

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save jobs. We have not seen the jobs that have been saved but I

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find it difficult. Every month I have to plan what I spend my money

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on. What have you given up? I have to buy own-brand food now, I can't

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not afford, my nutrition has probably suffered, I cannot buy as

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:03:15.:03:15.

much fruit and veg as I would like to. Do you ask yourself, is it

:03:15.:03:21.

worth me having this job or would I be better off on benefits? For me I

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do not think it is an option. The reason I went into public service

:03:25.:03:29.

work was I wanted to make a difference. Although it is

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extremely difficult, I deal with people every day who are in worse

:03:32.:03:35.

scenarios than I am, people who are living in poverty while in their

:03:35.:03:45.
:03:45.:03:46.

sixties or seventies and eighties. Do you blame anyone? The Government

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is likely to blame. A lot of these cuts have come and they will hit

:03:50.:03:54.

women, especially women with children. We are expected to

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continue to work but the attacks on child tax credit, working tax

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credit, I do not see how we will get out of it. Penny, your party is

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always saying we are always in this together. You heard this story of

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Ellie and Hayley. They are not untypical. They will not think they

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are in it with you. This is very common but I do encounter a lot of

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people who are in... What do you say? We have managed to do quite a

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lot and before we came in, someone in Ellie's position, there was no

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incentive for them to work. If they tried to increase their salary,

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they were taxed 98 per cent because of the benefits that were taken

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away from them as their earnings went up. What we did was change

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that. Should it have got to this stage where somebody decides it is

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heating or eating? It should not. It is very difficult, I do not know

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Ellie's whole situation but what we need to do is keep raising tax

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thresholds. We have done that, we have lifted 1.1 million people out

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of paying tax altogether, we have increased child tax credits.

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could list these things but there are still people who are in these

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pockets of poverty that we have. Daisy, Lib-Dem councillor. You are

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in coalition here. It is partly for you to be blamed as well, is it?

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can really relate to what Ellie was saying because in my ward, children

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in poverty is an expanding number. You are in a position where you

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were having to get rid of hundreds of jobs. We had tough choices to

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make. I was in charge of adult social care and we had to look at a

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situation where the council had to subsidise people who paid for that

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care and I had to prioritise those who could not afford to pay. This

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is an acute situation and I want to see an increase in the raising of

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tax threshold. George, Labour peer. I am looking at a change to the

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working tax credit situations coming in April, so that if you are

:06:27.:06:30.

working like Ellie or Hayley, but if you are earning less than

:06:30.:06:40.
:06:40.:06:42.

�17,500 you will be worse off as a result of those tax credit changes.

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What is the solution? Some say you got us into this mess. We've raised

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the issue of the working tax credit problem a month ago and we said how

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we would pay for it by getting rid of the stamp duty loophole. I am

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pleased to see on the BBC today George Osborne closing that

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loophole but he did not say he would make work pay for those

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:07:17.:07:17.

people on working tax credit. Andrew, you are a graduate. You

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spent a long time trying to get a job. You now have a job. Can you

:07:23.:07:33.
:07:33.:07:35.

tell me what that process was like? It was humiliating to say the least.

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Seeking employment is hard enough at the moment but the very people

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you come into contact with who are supposed to ease that process can

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be quite judgmental and I am not saying the JobCentre is all

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judgemental. There were some very nice people who were very helpful

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but the process itself, that process they are working in is

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repressive. How did it affect you? You are well qualified and there is

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nothing. I'd got a good degree, I worked hard throughout university,

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I got as much experience as I could and you would assume that

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:08:22.:08:23.

employment would come with that naturally, but it did not. Aston,

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you are from the Isle of Wight. You are what a recall a NEETs, not in

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education, employment or training. Now you are an apprentice. Isle of

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Wight, so many people chasing so few jobs, what was it like? It was

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frustrating. You cannot find anything and if you do, it is

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either working in a residential working in a residential home but I

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cannot bring myself to do that. I don't have that kind of caring

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instinct, and seasonal work as well. Then after that, you go back on the

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dole for the winter months. Is it difficult to motivate yourself when

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you get rejections? All the time. But I went on a course and that

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ignited the spark of organisation and motivation in myself and with

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these apprenticeship courses, I reckon that is a very good idea for

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the government to be bringing up because it is very valuable and the

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:09:33.:09:34.

variety is amazing. You are on an apprenticeship scheme now. What

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about friends of yours? What is the future looking like for them?

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There is not a lot there. Most of my friends are going off the island

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now and it is awful. My friends are all having to go off and go to

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other places. Some cannot seem to bring themselves to do anything.

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Motivation has gone. You are sitting next to Michael from the

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Institute of Personnel Development. You help people in recruitment.

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What you are hearing from Aston, Andrew, is this typical?

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certainly is typical. What we are doing, what we are producing out of

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schools, out of university are individuals who are not necessarily

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well prepared for the world of work, do not have the skills that we need,

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so we need to find some way of bridging that from taking them from

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education into work. Through apprenticeships, vocational

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training that is the bridge you need. It is not a political point,

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it is a point that we need to make sure that the young people today

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are given these opportunities in order they make that transition.

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it the case that you hear people, I have applied for hundreds of jobs,

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is it that they are getting something wrong or is it simply

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that it is that tough? It is tough. There is a tsunami of CVs out there

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but if you ask employers, actually recruiting skilled, qualified

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candidates is still remarkably difficult. There is a mismatch

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between the skills and education people have got and the

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opportunities. Where are the opportunities, the sectors where

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there are jobs? Financial services, even manufacturing and construction,

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IT, professional services - all these have got opportunities but

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when we look at opportunities, all too often the people applying for

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them do not have the prequisite skills. Linda, you run an IT

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company. You are nodding, yes there are jobs out there. You started up

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your company and would you say that to other people, go and do it

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yourself? There is a need for some kind of bridging. There is a gap

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because we have been hiring and the quality that we get, sometimes I

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wonder how frustrated people really are in this sector, how much that

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:12:14.:12:14.

plays a part. You employ a small number of people. That is right. We

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have ended up having less staff because we have not been able to

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fulfil the roles. I run, one of my businesses is a web internet

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retailer and we try and get people to load product, write web sites

:12:29.:12:39.
:12:39.:12:40.

and sometimes we cannot get anyone. Are they not trained? We put

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adverts out and we are looking for basic requirements and we are

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saying, where are these one million 16-24 year olds on these jobs? The

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other side is I put ads out and then I have 80 people. We need to

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skill the young people up and equip them for the jobs for the future

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which may not be retail, it may be in internet companies. It is making

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sure because we have the young people, if they do not have skills,

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they do not have the jobs. You run a company, how many do you employ?

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We employ five people. We have grown 500 per cent, which is

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fantastic and we want to grow more. There's plenty of applications and

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we are not looking for certain skills, just people with the right

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attitude and there were people like that with in the debate here. There

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are lots of companies that are just looking for people that have the

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right attitude, want to get involved and are passionate.

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Unfortunately, SMEs are not as attractive as the big guys. SMEs,

:13:55.:13:59.

small, medium enterprises. Just finding that information is like a

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lost box. I felt like I was in the right place at the right time with

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the right people trying to help me. Penny, as a Conservative MP, why

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are you not listening to young people more instead of just saying

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:14:27.:14:27.

this is what we are going to do. What we are going to do is change

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in part the advice that people are being given because the theme

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running through this is that the job hunter is given very poor

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advice. One of the most depressing things I see is someone shows me a

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file full of 200 certificates they have got from being put on one

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course or another. No one has given them good, one to one advice about

:14:50.:14:52.

the skills they have, their ambitions and what is happening in

:14:52.:14:56.

the workplace where they live. The welfare-to-work programme is about

:14:56.:14:58.

giving people that one-to-one advice, including people who have

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:15:08.:15:14.

been out of work for a long time. That is a very welcome change.

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have this business that basically has hit hard times because of the

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:15:30.:15:34.

cuts in subsidy. How many people did you start with. Now we have 35.

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That is because of the subsidies. It grew very fast because the

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:15:52.:15:53.

subsidies were too generous. What is that like having to get rid of

:15:53.:15:57.

people? That is very difficult especially in a climate when there

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is not a lot fold them to go out to. It is a different kettle of fish

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for you, Nick. You make these stair lifts. You have just given workers

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:16:24.:16:25.

recently a 2% pay rise. You might be saying, what downturn? For us,

:16:25.:16:31.

we are growing. We are exporting. Most of our sales are export sales

:16:31.:16:37.

instead of market. We export all around the world and we know that

:16:37.:16:43.

there is inflation and so we need to keep hold of our staff. What are

:16:43.:16:51.

you doing right? For asked the sector we are in, it is a growing

:16:51.:17:00.

market. That helps us a lot. Innovation is really important,

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research and development, getting your product right, finding your

:17:03.:17:09.

markets around the world is really critical. All of that comes from

:17:10.:17:13.

having great people working for you and that is what is really

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important. Listening to Aston, apprenticeships are really key. We

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have apprenticeship schemes and that is really important in terms

:17:23.:17:29.

of training. We will come on to that but I want you to meet another

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businessman. Rick runs a coffee shop. He started it with his own

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money because he could not get a loan from the bank. It is such a

:17:38.:17:42.

success that he has now opened a second one. This time he has not

:17:42.:17:52.
:17:52.:17:55.

We submitted our business plan to our new bank manager and our

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business plan was passed around between three different branches

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and on our opening day, as it became closer, we had no money so

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in the end we had to take out personal loans. Week Max doubt our

:18:10.:18:20.
:18:20.:18:20.

credit cards. It was really risky. Our business survival was at stake

:18:20.:18:26.

and we felt really let down. To be honest, the large high street banks

:18:26.:18:35.

do not really have a lot of interest. We were looking for

:18:35.:18:42.

�40,000 and once our application went live on the internet, five or

:18:42.:18:50.

six hours later, we had 40 grand. First of all, congratulations, but

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what is your relationship like with the bank now? First, Aiko own the

:18:55.:18:59.

coffee shop with my business partner and we took out loans

:18:59.:19:05.

together. Our relationship with the bank is pretty good. But we do not

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do a lot that involves the bank apart from taking our money there

:19:09.:19:15.

on a weekly basis. Was it frustrating not getting a loan?

:19:15.:19:23.

It was not so much frustrating, I could have accepted that because

:19:23.:19:28.

they start a business can be high risk in an economic downturn, but

:19:28.:19:32.

it was the way we were treated by the bank. What was that experience

:19:32.:19:40.

like this? There was not a lot of input into our application. There

:19:40.:19:44.

was not a lot of feedback in terms of what we would need to improve

:19:44.:19:51.

our chances. Our application was passed around to different bank

:19:51.:19:58.

managers because ours was on holiday. We could not track down

:19:58.:20:03.

who had our application. There was a lot of confusion and you were not

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focusing on one person. He went to something that is called peer-to-

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peer funding. In a nutshell, very simply explain what that is. Peer-

:20:11.:20:21.

to-peer funding is essentially Internet-based business which

:20:21.:20:25.

matches buyers with lenders. If someone wants to lend money, they

:20:25.:20:31.

can get a higher interest rate by going through the bank's and

:20:31.:20:39.

borrowers can get a lower interest rate. Linda, it is possibly

:20:39.:20:43.

something that you could think of here. You want to expand. Would you

:20:44.:20:50.

go down that road of peer-to-peer funding? The idea is great. It is a

:20:50.:20:56.

growing concept, and the internet makes it easier. With Investment,

:20:56.:21:02.

the balance is more about the people you bring on board. People

:21:02.:21:06.

in the internet world talk about a funding gap. It is getting the

:21:06.:21:10.

right expertise on your board, getting the growth to join you. The

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funding gap in the UK means the focus means you have to prove your

:21:16.:21:21.

business more than in the States. Before I come to Geoff, I want to

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go to David Branston. 70 % of small businesses, I am told, relied on

:21:28.:21:32.

people starting up with a savings and family in hennaed -- family

:21:32.:21:37.

inheritances because they cannot get loans. We are hearing this

:21:37.:21:43.

story all the time. Banks are not performing as they should. The

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targets have not been nest. They are �5 billion short of what they

:21:48.:21:57.

should be. Where banks have the targets to loan to it new loans.

:21:57.:22:03.

There are alternatives to this. You'd think it is a great idea?

:22:03.:22:09.

There is nothing wrong with peer- to-peer funding. Indeed, there is

:22:09.:22:12.

an emergence of money coming out of families into business just to make

:22:12.:22:17.

sure they are going. We have to do something. The banks say they have

:22:18.:22:20.

plenty of money to lend, but they do not lend it, or they put

:22:20.:22:27.

restrictions on it that it is not worth. Let me bring in Geoff French.

:22:27.:22:33.

What is your response? One of the things that got fed back to us was

:22:33.:22:38.

this issue of accessing finance. Now we are working with the banks

:22:38.:22:42.

to try and close that gap, to close the office this connect there is

:22:42.:22:52.
:22:52.:22:53.

between the banks and business. That, sadly, is essential. That is

:22:53.:23:00.

why you could say it to the government, that it is the link

:23:00.:23:05.

between the two. They need to work together. Clearly that project

:23:05.:23:11.

failed. It is great to hear about finance other than banks. The

:23:11.:23:14.

publicity work the Federation of Small Businesses is doing is great,

:23:14.:23:18.

though we cannot let the banks of the hook. There are two things that

:23:18.:23:26.

need to happen. Those targets were having existing loans and calling

:23:26.:23:31.

them new loans. Clearly, at the right so -- right structures were

:23:31.:23:36.

not put in place by the government. Things have improved slightly, but

:23:36.:23:41.

not enough. What it is going to take, we have got an opportunity,

:23:41.:23:44.

we own part of banking and we should be setting the bar much

:23:44.:23:50.

higher. We have got new providers coming on as well, with Virgin,

:23:50.:23:54.

Metro, who are claiming they will be producing financial products

:23:54.:23:57.

that will meet people's needs. We ought to be having more competition

:23:57.:24:01.

in the banking world for people to do that. Two thing should happen:

:24:01.:24:06.

First, we need to get back to people making local decisions, been

:24:06.:24:10.

able to sit in front of people who are setting up start ups and making

:24:10.:24:13.

good business judgments about what will work and what will not. That

:24:13.:24:18.

does not happen now. We have got to have better services and products

:24:18.:24:23.

for business, but also for people who want mortgages and so forth.

:24:23.:24:28.

There is a complete disconnect between what people need to be

:24:28.:24:32.

starting on the property ladder. You are talking about a wider

:24:32.:24:39.

strategy. There is an increasing appetite for risk of. What Linda

:24:39.:24:45.

was saying about in the US, there is not the same stigma attached to

:24:45.:24:49.

business failure. It is regarded as something you can learn from so the

:24:49.:24:53.

next business will be successful. Local bank managers are great if

:24:53.:24:56.

they have more responsibility as long as they feel like they can

:24:56.:25:00.

take a risk and some of a warm-up the work and it will not be scored

:25:00.:25:04.

against them during their career. In your business, the business that

:25:04.:25:13.

you set up his medical supermarket. It is to sell suppliers to GPs who

:25:13.:25:17.

have this consortium now with the new health reforms. If the

:25:17.:25:22.

government changed their mind over this, where does that leave you?

:25:22.:25:28.

is interesting. Do you worry about it? To a degree, yes it. We are

:25:28.:25:32.

slightly different because the economy is quite a buckle and what

:25:32.:25:36.

we are doing naturally businesses are looking at their overheads and

:25:36.:25:39.

challenging their existing cost so. That is what medical supermarket is

:25:39.:25:46.

doing, helping those businesses in the health sector whether you are a

:25:46.:25:50.

large care home group or a local GP service, looking out what they are

:25:50.:25:54.

spending and hopefully challenging them and helping them achieve cost

:25:54.:25:58.

savings. To a degree, if the government does change what is

:25:58.:26:03.

going on, it could affect us, but not as bad as other industries.

:26:03.:26:06.

you do not worry about the future in terms of changing government

:26:06.:26:11.

policy that might impact you? necessarily, but we started again

:26:11.:26:16.

through family savings, my business partner and I. If you want to grow

:26:16.:26:20.

and prosper, we have proved we have got people that we want to employ

:26:20.:26:28.

and do more, but banks are not supporting us. We are talking about

:26:28.:26:36.

small businesses. The government talk the talk but they do not walk

:26:36.:26:40.

the walk. Small businesses are always the poor relation. There is

:26:40.:26:45.

not a Cabinet minister who has responsibility for small businesses,

:26:45.:26:48.

yet the Prime Minister says small businesses are going to be the

:26:48.:26:53.

salvation of the economy. Why do we have a Small Business

:26:53.:26:57.

Administration like they have in America? We need to change our

:26:57.:27:01.

mindset and take power back from banks and the government and say

:27:01.:27:06.

councils have responsibility for economic development. Credit unions

:27:06.:27:11.

are expanding rapidly in Berkshire for example. We need to take power

:27:11.:27:15.

back and make decision-making easier. Councillors are the best

:27:15.:27:19.

people in the world for that. A Cabinet minister may not have that

:27:19.:27:23.

experience. This has to be a government initiative to support

:27:23.:27:30.

the small businesses. Governments can make decisions on small

:27:30.:27:33.

business. If you have got a champion around the Cabinet table,

:27:33.:27:40.

that would help. The health service example, beat Solar subsidy, a

:27:40.:27:45.

great example where decisions are clumsily made and can have a bad

:27:45.:27:50.

effect. Equally, an investment in housing, but less than 100

:27:50.:27:54.

affordable houses were built around the country last year. It could

:27:54.:28:01.

create a huge number of jobs. was talking about a Cabinet

:28:01.:28:08.

minister champion there. You are a real industry champion, Nigel,

:28:08.:28:18.
:28:18.:28:21.

onto? You believe let's sell I work in the marine sector which

:28:21.:28:26.

is worth �1 billion to the country. We do not shout about that. The

:28:26.:28:33.

marine sector is issued in Britain. Britain is all about quality yachts,

:28:33.:28:38.

but you do not hear that. We have to go and shout about it. Why is

:28:38.:28:45.

that? We are very English about it, very understated, we want people to

:28:45.:28:53.

find out about a little gem and that we have. When people see the

:28:53.:28:57.

quality we are doing, the hand- finished, we do not shout about

:28:57.:29:05.

this. You are very much involved with the links to India and you are

:29:05.:29:11.

saying, come on, let's shout about doing more trade with India. There

:29:11.:29:18.

is no doubt the emerging economies provide us an opportunity to grow

:29:18.:29:22.

hours or so. Our European counterparts are exporting more to

:29:22.:29:27.

India, Brazil, China and given the traditional links we have to

:29:27.:29:34.

India... You must be delighted that Vince Cable has been to India to

:29:34.:29:40.

talk about trade. What is the problem? It is a combination of

:29:40.:29:45.

factors. Once it is very much cold full, we are very much English and

:29:45.:29:52.

we need to promote that bilateral trade. I think the government could

:29:52.:29:58.

do more, so I think from -- the initiative is fantastic in

:29:58.:30:08.

commercialising that. It is a combination of factors. Geoff, you

:30:08.:30:15.

wanted to say something about that. It is just the basic statistic that

:30:15.:30:19.

four-fifths of our export art to the developed world and not the

:30:19.:30:24.

developing world and we have to change that focus. You want to do

:30:24.:30:30.

more with other countries, but this year, what have you got, �15

:30:30.:30:40.
:30:40.:30:44.

million funding? Yes. Last year, there was 126 million. The Scottish

:30:44.:30:50.

Enterprise has 300 million, how can you compete in a Chinese company

:30:51.:30:55.

comes here? We would struggle to compete and the funding we have got

:30:56.:31:05.

is not to encourage industry is to come in that way. The 50 million we

:31:05.:31:10.

have -- 15 million is to invest in infrastructure that will promote

:31:10.:31:16.

economic growth. It is the way we will be administering it in our

:31:16.:31:22.

Beria, to invite bids for that money from both the public and

:31:22.:31:25.

private sector and it has to be projects that promote economic

:31:25.:31:34.

growth. Commercialisation is important for developing that

:31:35.:31:38.

infrastructure. There must be certain sectors where we know there

:31:38.:31:43.

is a potential for growth. It could be in renewable energy, the digital

:31:43.:31:48.

economy, in services for the elderly because we know as we

:31:48.:31:52.

project forward to the future that there are some industries where we

:31:52.:31:58.

have a good chance of building growth. Let's talk more about

:31:58.:32:04.

growth and bring in Nick. You work with apprenticeships. You believe

:32:04.:32:09.

apprenticeships are crucial in your business. Absolutely. It is an

:32:09.:32:14.

important part of our business in terms of being able to bring people

:32:14.:32:19.

into our business and train them, give them the skills and experience

:32:19.:32:23.

they need in our business. We are an engineering business, we have

:32:23.:32:27.

lots of the print ships coming through our doors and that works

:32:27.:32:36.

for us. The other thing is our customers tell us around the world,

:32:36.:32:39.

in emerging economies, they love for buying British products and

:32:39.:32:47.

that is great for us. We need to shout about that more. How much of

:32:47.:32:53.

your workforce is apprenticeships. About 90 %. We started when there

:32:53.:32:58.

was help to do it three or four years ago. The first year is the

:32:58.:33:03.

hardest. The government needs to get behind companies in that first

:33:03.:33:07.

year. After the first year they start to pay their way. You have to

:33:07.:33:13.

put money in it to get these kids of the street. Tom, you are an

:33:13.:33:19.

apprentice. Yes. The amount of training I get is substantial. I

:33:19.:33:24.

have done a confined spaces training because I am in

:33:24.:33:31.

construction. After the first year, I think they do need to be

:33:31.:33:36.

supported because after the first year, you can give back. As an

:33:36.:33:41.

apprentice do you feel positive about the future? Yes, because I

:33:41.:33:48.

believe that I can after this are printed, I can go to university and

:33:48.:33:52.

say to businesses, I have done this before, I know what this is about

:33:52.:33:56.

that is why you should pick me. apprenticeships are really

:33:56.:34:05.

important. What Geoff will take you is that with Enterprise is the

:34:05.:34:10.

apprentice champion for enterprise emissary. I sit on the board in

:34:10.:34:17.

Dorset. In many ways I am envious. He has a �15 million, I have six.

:34:17.:34:24.

That will not even build a roundabout! I said earlier about

:34:24.:34:28.

there is no doubt apprenticeships are really important but I also

:34:28.:34:34.

think for people leaving school without qualifications, we need to

:34:34.:34:38.

put work experience in there. It is a pity the debate recently was

:34:38.:34:43.

about taking the benefit away from people because there is no doubt

:34:43.:34:49.

work experience is the gateway in. A third of all work experience

:34:49.:34:54.

leads to employment. For every school to offer work-related

:34:54.:34:59.

learning to every pupil is essential. What I want to do is

:34:59.:35:04.

move on to how we feel about the future and how we are looking to

:35:04.:35:09.

the future and what sort of mood we are in. This is a big influence on

:35:09.:35:14.

the economy. Even if you have the money or perhaps you are too afraid

:35:14.:35:18.

or worried about spending it, here are some views from the street in

:35:18.:35:28.
:35:28.:35:29.

Brighton. We are both retired and you make do.

:35:29.:35:36.

The wages do not go up so you end up having one pizza between two.

:35:36.:35:43.

are OK, we are fine. You have to have a positive attitude in life.

:35:43.:35:49.

You can see many people are dining out, or the pubs of all. More I

:35:49.:35:55.

partner is out of work and cannot supply our house, so there is only

:35:55.:36:00.

one wage going in and that is tight. I am noticing that the shopping

:36:00.:36:07.

bill is expensive now. And the petrol. Yes. On the whole, the

:36:07.:36:11.

country is looking up rather than down so I think if everybody goes

:36:11.:36:18.

about it with a good attitude, all is well.

:36:18.:36:25.

The views on the streets of Brighton on Friday night. Hayley,

:36:25.:36:31.

do you see light at the end of the tunnel? No, absolutely not. For me

:36:31.:36:37.

my wages have gone down and will continue to go down and the prices

:36:37.:36:43.

will go up. I do not see how this would end. I feel like I am a

:36:43.:36:49.

choice -- I am left with a choice, I would like to have a family and

:36:49.:36:55.

looking at barely's story, I do not want to be in that position. I do

:36:55.:36:59.

not know whether I want to stay here, why should I put into a in

:36:59.:37:06.

economy that will not support me. Hayley is talking about her

:37:06.:37:11.

individual situation but what I have to say is the F S B carries

:37:11.:37:18.

out a major survey. Two years ago there was a lot of pessimism. This

:37:18.:37:22.

last survey, there were 12,000 small businesses and their shows

:37:22.:37:27.

that people are beginning to think there is light at the end of the

:37:27.:37:34.

tunnel. I worked for the public sector and it is pessimistic.

:37:34.:37:37.

believe it is down to consumer confidence because if nobody is

:37:37.:37:43.

willing to go for it and spend more in the economy and not cut back on

:37:43.:37:50.

the luxury is so much, it will never pick up. If people are too

:37:50.:37:55.

scared of a rainy day or they will be the next to have their job cuts,

:37:55.:38:01.

we will not get any work. Aston, how do you feel about the future?

:38:01.:38:06.

Definitely. I have a job I love and it is amazing just going out and

:38:06.:38:12.

doing what I can. That is how I feel and it is not a broad sense of

:38:12.:38:17.

everyone but for me, I am just carrying on going through life.

:38:17.:38:21.

Maybe my social life has taken a battering, but my career is going

:38:21.:38:26.

up tenfold and I am appreciative of the help I have gained and the

:38:26.:38:33.

people I have met along the way. Thank you very much or the view for

:38:33.:38:39.

being here tonight. The Chancellor's Budget is on Wednesday

:38:39.:38:44.

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