:01:15. > :01:16.the economy - we hear plans to create 70,000 new jobs in the
:01:16. > :01:19.region. And Tory legend Michael Heseltine
:01:19. > :01:29.tells us there's hundreds of millions of pounds' worth of
:01:29. > :01:29.
:01:29. > :37:35.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2165 seconds
:37:35. > :37:39.regeneration money available - we about the economy. We hear plans to
:37:39. > :37:44.create 70,000 new jobs in the region. Coming here, this fabulous
:37:44. > :37:49.place where we are working, I have learned a lot, learned a lot about
:37:49. > :37:53.myself and I feel confident about the future now. And Tory legend
:37:53. > :37:58.Michael Heseltine tells us there are hundreds of millions of pounds worth
:37:58. > :38:02.of regeneration money available, we only have to ask. What I want to see
:38:02. > :38:07.is local people in Leicestershire, for example, saying that what
:38:07. > :38:13.Leicestershire really wants is to build on these strengths and devise
:38:13. > :38:18.policies for that purpose that are very locally relevant. Hello, I am
:38:18. > :38:21.John Hess and my guests today, the Labour MP for Derby South, Margaret
:38:21. > :38:25.Beckett, and Jason Zadrozny, leader of the Liberal Democrats on
:38:25. > :38:29.Nottinghamshire County Council. First, and apologies to you both,
:38:29. > :38:32.have we got too many politicians? The local government Boundary
:38:32. > :38:41.Commission is to investigate the number of councillors on Leicester
:38:41. > :38:45.City Council. Is one for every 500 voters, but in Leicestershire, it
:38:45. > :38:48.represents twice that figure. If the commission recommends there are too
:38:48. > :38:53.many City Council is, some local politicians might be heading for the
:38:53. > :38:58.chop. What do you make of this, Margaret? Bombing here from the
:38:58. > :39:02.Prime Minister, he is telling us there are too many politicians.
:39:02. > :39:06.but you have to take that with probably a bag of salt. The Prime
:39:06. > :39:10.Minister, who came forward with this idea that we should have new
:39:10. > :39:15.boundaries so that we could have a lot fewer MPs, that would save
:39:15. > :39:18.money, in the interim he spent far more than he would ever have saved
:39:18. > :39:22.on the new Commons boundaries on putting extra people into the House
:39:22. > :39:29.of lords. So he speaks with a forked tongue on this issue. The important
:39:29. > :39:38.thing is, how many people are the individual politicians supposed to
:39:38. > :39:41.be trying to respond to and how practical is that? Jason Zadrozny,
:39:41. > :39:46.people must be confused at the levels of district councils, county
:39:46. > :39:52.councils, and so on. Wouldn't it make sense to reduce the number of
:39:52. > :39:55.elected politicians with pressure on budgets? There is a balance to be
:39:55. > :40:00.struck. In Leicester, they have got an elected mayor so they see a
:40:00. > :40:04.public figure who is responsible for the Council so there is a
:40:04. > :40:06.juxtaposition to strike with that. With some districts, all of
:40:06. > :40:08.Nottinghamshire going through boundary changes at the district
:40:08. > :40:15.council level and we have reduced the number of councillors but people
:40:15. > :40:20.still want to be represented well and there is a balance to strike but
:40:20. > :40:25.Margaret is right, there is an interesting position coming from Mr
:40:25. > :40:30.Cameron. What would happen if the Boundary Commission removed their
:40:30. > :40:33.tanks moved into Derby city and say that Derby City Council has got too
:40:33. > :40:39.many councillors? I would be slightly surprised but you can't
:40:39. > :40:45.take anything for granted because we have quite large wards in Derby.
:40:45. > :40:52.Often 10,000 people so you need enough people to deal with the
:40:52. > :40:55.problems of that area. The other thing is quite a bit dependence on
:40:55. > :41:00.how big the intrinsic problems of an area are. There may be more problems
:41:00. > :41:03.in Leicester than in some other cities. Jason, I am often told there
:41:03. > :41:07.aren't enough people coming forward to stand for local councils so
:41:07. > :41:17.wouldn't it be a bigger advantage to have fewer opportunities and a
:41:17. > :41:21.
:41:21. > :41:28.better calibre of individual? represent 9000 people and it takes a
:41:28. > :41:32.lot of time to deal with in many -- deal with many problems. Thank you
:41:32. > :41:37.very much indeed for the time being. 70,000 new jobs, the headline figure
:41:37. > :41:40.from our new local enterprise partnerships. They will unveil plans
:41:40. > :41:44.for regenerating the East Midlands economy. We will hear from the
:41:44. > :41:53.businessman with the task of reigniting the local economy for
:41:53. > :41:57.Leicestershire and Leicester but first the head of the
:41:57. > :42:01.Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire LEP tells us how he is planning to
:42:01. > :42:07.create 45,000 jobs. Spin back to 1771 and Derbyshire's there went
:42:07. > :42:10.Valley, a stroke of genius ushered in the first Industrial Revolution.
:42:10. > :42:14.It was Richard Arkwright who came up with the idea of harnessing the
:42:14. > :42:20.power of water to run machines. So where are the big ideas of the
:42:20. > :42:23.future going to come from? Talking up plans to turn Arkwright's mill at
:42:23. > :42:30.Cromford into a tourist attraction is a business leader we will hear a
:42:30. > :42:35.lot more from. I am David from the local enterprise partnership.
:42:35. > :42:39.was set up to grow the local economy. And that is the hub of the
:42:39. > :42:42.coalition government and local businesses. The single egg is
:42:42. > :42:47.message we hear from businesses is the lack of skills among the
:42:47. > :42:51.workforce, people leaving school and college and university, and also the
:42:51. > :42:54.workforces themselves and we have established a skills commission. We
:42:54. > :42:59.are publishing a skills plan next Tuesday as part of our new growth
:43:00. > :43:07.deal for the area. But do the new LEPs have enough clout? This
:43:07. > :43:14.business is looking to its LEP to provide some heavy lifting to plug a
:43:14. > :43:18.skills shortage. We are having to ring people in that are very raw and
:43:18. > :43:24.trained them with the skills -- bring people. This takes time and as
:43:24. > :43:30.a small company, we have not always got that time. That Maria shared by
:43:30. > :43:36.co-director Caroline Wright, who set -- that worry is shared, her father
:43:36. > :43:39.set up this company. It is looking to the LEPs now. Some of the kit we
:43:39. > :43:45.deal with his very expensive and some investment into machinery would
:43:45. > :43:47.be a bonus to our business. underlined six key priorities that
:43:47. > :43:54.we would tackle including apprenticeships. We do not think
:43:54. > :43:58.they can be a second choice, we think they should be present in an
:43:58. > :44:06.area where they should be a priority, it is famous for building
:44:06. > :44:12.things here. This college offers the type of training that the LEP is
:44:12. > :44:17.recommending. It is part of a scheme to help these students find work.
:44:17. > :44:22.This fabulous place we are working in, I have learnt a lot about myself
:44:22. > :44:28.and I feel very confident about the future, now. So where is the money
:44:28. > :44:35.for the LEPs coming from? We are barking -- we are embarking on major
:44:35. > :44:40.reforms, the creation of the local fun... A new �2 billion a year fund
:44:40. > :44:49.was even to the LEPs and �500 million from the EU as well for the
:44:49. > :44:54.five LEPs that represent the area. We argued our case to our MPs and
:44:54. > :44:59.local politicians and to our businesses that this area can have a
:44:59. > :45:04.step change in its economic growth. Arkwright's ideas were a huge change
:45:04. > :45:08.as well. The region's enterprise partnerships can only hope his
:45:08. > :45:13.vision can inspire the current generation of business leaders.
:45:13. > :45:22.Joining us to discuss all that is businessman Andrew Bacon, chairman
:45:22. > :45:26.of the Leicestershire and Leicester LEP. David Ralph was talking about
:45:26. > :45:32.45,000 jobs in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. What is your target for
:45:32. > :45:38.Leicester and Leicestershire? established a plan 18 months ago for
:45:38. > :45:43.25,000 new jobs to be created for the development sites we were
:45:43. > :45:50.investing in. Five key development sites will develop and deliver
:45:50. > :45:57.16,000 jobs. The enterprise zone in Leicestershire is already up and
:45:57. > :46:06.running generating 250 jobs, 400 investors on site, the -- for
:46:06. > :46:09.investors -- four major investors. Is the Chancellor backing the LEPs
:46:10. > :46:15.with the clout to deliver? We would have liked a larger sum but we have
:46:15. > :46:21.made great progress so far, we have been particularly fortunate in the
:46:21. > :46:26.past couple of years with the levels of investment coming into
:46:26. > :46:32.Leicestershire. The �2 billion single pot per year will be of value
:46:32. > :46:37.but it is really about the flexibility and a lack of
:46:37. > :46:42.constraints. We want one single pot, not ten or 20 different projects to
:46:42. > :46:45.bid for. Margaret, we have heard mention about money. Are you
:46:45. > :46:50.convinced that this government is putting forward enough money to try
:46:50. > :46:58.to get that step change? I think there are a number of problems. One
:46:58. > :47:01.of them is that the Government has been really geared towards public
:47:01. > :47:06.service cuts, any investment they are making tends to be toward the
:47:06. > :47:09.longer term. We are worried about getting things kick-started now and
:47:09. > :47:13.I am sorry the Government has not taken our advice and gone for an
:47:13. > :47:17.infrastructure boost that will bring jobs and construction on at the
:47:17. > :47:27.present time which is where we need it. But we are pleased with what
:47:27. > :47:30.ever does come. There has been a big criticism, Jason, that we are 2.5
:47:30. > :47:35.years into the Government and we are only now getting the detail about
:47:35. > :47:40.what some of these LEPs will be offering. It is slower than people
:47:40. > :47:47.have anticipated but let's not underestimated, we are excited.
:47:47. > :47:51.Excited? They call these the most ambitious postcodes in the UK and it
:47:51. > :47:56.is essential for politicians like us to sing the praises of our region.
:47:56. > :48:01.55,000 jobs, we are talking about �20 billion of investment over the
:48:01. > :48:04.period. It is not as much as we wanted but we have created 1 million
:48:04. > :48:09.jobs and 1.2 million apprenticeships. We have to start
:48:09. > :48:12.somewhere and the future is much brighter than it was. You specialise
:48:12. > :48:16.in the whole area of regeneration policy but what persuaded you that
:48:16. > :48:23.the LEPs could be more successful than, say, the EMDA that the last
:48:23. > :48:30.Labour government created? It is a three pronged approach. About having
:48:30. > :48:36.the right people in the right places and with the tools. Didn't the
:48:37. > :48:46.enterprise agencies as well? Third sector partners are able to make
:48:46. > :48:50.sure there are able pulling shelf ready projects already. We are
:48:50. > :48:57.talking about this over 10,000 years, in a manufacturing area that
:48:57. > :48:59.has big names like Rolls-Royce and Boots, is it that ambitious?
:48:59. > :49:07.thing that worries me is that we have still got some highly
:49:07. > :49:12.successful employers, for example bombardier and Rolls-Royce but down
:49:12. > :49:15.the supply chain, people still having difficulties and many small
:49:15. > :49:21.and medium-sized businesses would like to expand and create jobs who
:49:21. > :49:26.are making no progress with the banks. Whatever the Government has
:49:26. > :49:29.done so far does not seem to have cracked that problem, getting in the
:49:29. > :49:35.investment where it is needed. about you, Andrew, are you
:49:35. > :49:39.ambitious? Your LEP will be in competition for Nottinghamshire and
:49:40. > :49:42.Derbyshire for the same sort of companies that you would want to
:49:42. > :49:47.attract to your area as opposed to the other parts of the East
:49:47. > :49:52.Midlands. We are collaborating more than competing. Most developments in
:49:53. > :49:59.and around Leicestershire will be benefiting surrounding areas as
:49:59. > :50:02.well. The economy has no borders. The competition is with the
:50:02. > :50:05.opportunities and the challenges are establishing those links with
:50:05. > :50:09.business to find out the specific projects that need the funding. That
:50:10. > :50:15.is the real challenge. They will be elements of competition. We are all
:50:15. > :50:19.going for the same pot but it is not competition in that sense. Are you
:50:19. > :50:26.confident? Very. We have had two years of building a solid platform,
:50:26. > :50:30.we have invested and returned well on that investing. I am looking
:50:30. > :50:34.forward to the next couple of years because we can start to progress the
:50:34. > :50:42.projects. And also skills mentioned earlier on, that is a major
:50:42. > :50:47.challenge for us. 20,000 people we have that could be matched with the
:50:47. > :50:51.20,000 vacancies, that is another challenge. Thank you. How about this
:50:51. > :50:55.for a plan for economic regeneration? Transferring more
:50:55. > :51:02.powers and billions of pounds to our regions. It is an idea with powerful
:51:02. > :51:06.backing. Lord Heseltine, Deputy Prime Minister to John Major and an
:51:06. > :51:11.adviser to David Cameron, he has been in the region demoting his
:51:11. > :51:16.regeneration thinking and spoke to Rob Pittam about what it could mean
:51:16. > :51:19.to our region. We are the only country that centralises all
:51:19. > :51:29.decision-making on its capital city. Every other country like ours
:51:29. > :51:30.
:51:30. > :51:35.has different levels. We have London in this country and I think it is
:51:35. > :51:39.like a monopoly. It also has another weakness, it is divided into
:51:39. > :51:45.functions. Housing, transport, environment, schools, all-important
:51:45. > :51:50.in their own way but it means they all focus on their own departmental
:51:50. > :51:56.responsibilities. I want to see local people in Leicestershire, for
:51:56. > :52:01.example, saying that what this area wants is to build on these
:52:01. > :52:06.Leicestershire strengths. And devise policies for that purpose, that our
:52:06. > :52:10.local and locally relevant. Giving local powers to local areas,
:52:10. > :52:16.Nottingham is a very big city for example. What can Nottingham do and
:52:16. > :52:24.what areas can it be? You are going to the same question. It is for
:52:24. > :52:28.Nottingham to work that out. must have an idea? No, no. I cannot.
:52:28. > :52:33.How can I know what is right for Nottingham? Because I hardly know
:52:33. > :52:37.Nottingham. If I was a minister, I would have to make those decisions.
:52:37. > :52:43.Somebody would come to me and say, this is what our plan is for
:52:43. > :52:47.Nottingham. I personally reject that concept. I won't Nottingham to work
:52:47. > :52:50.it out. Turning to the regional growth fund, you are in charge of
:52:50. > :52:54.the advisory panel which advises the Government on how to spend the
:52:54. > :53:00.money. A real problem here, we regularly come bottom of the table,
:53:00. > :53:07.in the last round with a �40 million which got �124 million in the West
:53:07. > :53:11.Midlands. The whole point was to concentrate money on those areas
:53:11. > :53:20.badly affected by the cuts and those were areas where relatively,
:53:20. > :53:24.Felicity spinach was a bigger proportion of the total demand --
:53:24. > :53:27.and those were areas where relatively speaking at a bigger
:53:27. > :53:32.proportion of the total demand. it different from the West
:53:32. > :53:38.Midlands? View then had to get into the detail and look at the
:53:38. > :53:44.concentrations of wealth and look at the nature of the scheme that other
:53:44. > :53:48.people have put forward. In the West Midlands, there are areas of
:53:48. > :53:53.significant deprivation. There will be some in the East Midlands as well
:53:53. > :53:56.but this is where we came in as an advisory body. You seem to be saying
:53:56. > :54:00.that we can never expect to get very much out of this regional growth
:54:01. > :54:05.fund in the East Midlands? They would not come high on the list of
:54:05. > :54:10.the areas that you associate with high and public expenditure and
:54:10. > :54:15.therefore particularly adverse effects. Margaret, has he got a
:54:15. > :54:19.point, are we to centralise as a country? It is not the first time
:54:19. > :54:22.that when I come to talk about industrial policy that Michael
:54:22. > :54:28.Heseltine is talking from our hymn sheet than he is from the one that
:54:28. > :54:31.is usually put out by his own party. I welcome it and the difficulty he
:54:31. > :54:36.has had and he might even admit it rabidly is that he has never been
:54:36. > :54:40.able to take his Treasury colleagues with him and I am not sure he is
:54:40. > :54:43.doing it now. You have been in government and then around this
:54:43. > :54:50.course before where they talk about devolving to the big cities and
:54:50. > :54:56.regions. And the Whitehall machine resisting. How do you get round that
:54:56. > :55:01.in government? It is never easy but what you'd do need to have -- what
:55:01. > :55:06.you do need to have, I was talking to someone else about the secret to
:55:06. > :55:10.this, you need to know clearly what you want. If as a government you
:55:10. > :55:15.should and can devolve much more power to regions and localities,
:55:15. > :55:21.then you have to get on with it. Michael Heseltine never really
:55:22. > :55:29.carried the rest of his colleagues with him. You are signed up to
:55:29. > :55:33.this, Jason? What Margaret says is right, the Government has never
:55:33. > :55:37.trusted local politicians or areas to make those decisions. Now we have
:55:37. > :55:43.Nick at the top table, that is changing but it needs to be more
:55:43. > :55:48.radical. Let's listen to what some of the people on the streets have
:55:48. > :55:51.said. Lord Heseltine says we must come up with our own idea said
:55:51. > :55:58.theirs has been out in Derby to find out how you think we can regenerate
:55:58. > :56:04.our economy. -- Desmond has been out. How would you create thousands
:56:04. > :56:11.of jobs and boost the economy? Manufacturing, it has to be. It
:56:11. > :56:18.seems to be lacking somewhat. Even Belper, Thornton is used to be big
:56:18. > :56:24.there, and also other companies loads of manufacturing, that has all
:56:24. > :56:29.gone down and down. Private enterprise. You must encourage it.
:56:29. > :56:35.And the way it is going at the moment, it is not being encouraged.
:56:35. > :56:41.How long have you been unemployed? Two years. What do people need to do
:56:41. > :56:47.to implore you? Have a variety of jobs and listen more records I have
:56:47. > :56:53.ploughed through 1000 jobs in a month, sending CDs, and I have had
:56:53. > :56:57.to see these back and two e-mails back. They don't listen. I think
:56:57. > :57:02.apprenticeships, and investment in the railway industry. Public
:57:02. > :57:08.transport is the way forward. older generation could have a lot
:57:08. > :57:14.more done for it. Teenagers, 16-19 -year-olds, and someone like myself
:57:14. > :57:21.now unemployed, not a lot available. Training and retraining. It is
:57:21. > :57:23.difficult to get back into work. Offer more volunteer or
:57:23. > :57:28.apprenticeship opportunities for young people to get the foot in the
:57:28. > :57:34.door. Lots of places say they won't experience but how can you get that
:57:34. > :57:39.when there is nobody offering it? Jason, the thing that is interesting
:57:39. > :57:48.is that you have a number of ideas that you could put into an economic
:57:49. > :57:54.strategy. It is great, everybody has an idea, one thing that was he was
:57:54. > :57:57.apprenticeships. You are nodding, Margaret? I was lucky to start my
:57:57. > :58:01.working life with a five-year apprenticeship and I think it is
:58:01. > :58:05.terrific. People see them differently and they must be seen as
:58:05. > :58:09.a viable option, but a second class thing. I did a vocational course at
:58:09. > :58:13.college because I was not very good academically and that was a better
:58:13. > :58:20.route for me. People must see that is just as good a route into a good
:58:21. > :58:23.job as a degree now. The whole issue of apprenticeships, do you see the
:58:23. > :58:29.coalition are getting it now? They are putting more money into it.
:58:29. > :58:33.talk is great. Our worry is that the sort of apprenticeships that Jason
:58:33. > :58:37.and I would recognise, I am not sure that all the things that are
:58:38. > :58:43.labelled with that word are that solid and that would be a pity
:58:43. > :58:47.because it is not numbers we want, it is quality. Margaret and Jason,
:58:47. > :58:57.thank you. Time for a round-up of the other political stories in 60
:58:57. > :58:59.
:58:59. > :59:05.seconds with Rob. Dusting down your caravan for the
:59:05. > :59:12.summer, East Midlands Conservative MEPs are fighting plans to impose
:59:12. > :59:16.tougher testing. The EU wants to extend MOT tests for caravans and
:59:16. > :59:21.trailers. A new train service for North Nottinghamshire has moved
:59:21. > :59:24.closer since the Sherwood MP Mark Spencer says. Network rail is to
:59:24. > :59:31.send him a feasibility study it made into a train service to Allerton and
:59:31. > :59:34.Edmonstone. Labour's Leicester West MP wants more to be done to make GP
:59:34. > :59:39.appointments more convenient. She wants to see surgeries offer more
:59:39. > :59:43.evening and weekend appointments. After it was revealed that police
:59:44. > :59:46.officers in Nottinghamshire had used their own vehicles to get injured
:59:46. > :59:51.people to hospital, the East Midlands police collaboration unit
:59:51. > :59:53.which represents the unit's police forces says it has now reached
:59:54. > :00:03.agreement on improving communications between the police
:00:04. > :00:04.
:00:04. > :00:11.and ambulance services. My thanks again to my studio guests,
:00:11. > :00:14.Margaret Beckett and Jason Zadrozny. Next week, our studio guests