Browse content similar to 03/02/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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More on that scathing report by the Commons Transport Select Committee | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
on the botched West Coast Mainline franchise contest. | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
And the Government wants councils to come up with new ways of | :01:28. | :01:38. | |
:01:38. | :01:38. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2425 seconds | :01:38. | :42:03. | |
Hello once again from the Midlands. I'm Patrick Burns. And our guests | :42:03. | :42:06. | |
today both represent the Heart of England, but in very different ways. | :42:06. | :42:08. | |
Caroline Spelman is the Conservative MP for Meriden, | :42:08. | :42:12. | |
reputedly slap bang in the centre of the country. And Michael Cashman | :42:12. | :42:15. | |
is the Labour MEP representing the West Midlands in our entirety, in | :42:15. | :42:25. | |
:42:25. | :42:26. | ||
the European Parliament. Let's begin with that scathing | :42:26. | :42:28. | |
report by the Commons Transport Select Committee on the botched | :42:28. | :42:31. | |
West Coast Mainline franchise contest, which is having to be | :42:31. | :42:35. | |
rerun because government officials got their sums wrong. What's more, | :42:35. | :42:40. | |
the committee say ministers and senior officials were lied to. One | :42:40. | :42:47. | |
of our Conservative MPs serves on the committee. The department has | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
already brought in new staff and that is important. It needs... It | :42:52. | :42:55. | |
may need to bring in outside consultants in future but it is | :42:55. | :42:58. | |
important we get this right because there is a lot of money we are | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
talking about. I know that when that contract is going to come up | :43:01. | :43:06. | |
again in just a year's time, it is important that is a seemed to be | :43:06. | :43:13. | |
transparent and fair. On that list of the shambles, it would rank | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
highly. Given the role of civil servants, you've called for civil | :43:17. | :43:23. | |
servants -- ministers to have more they say. You can't choose your | :43:23. | :43:27. | |
private civil servants. As making the case for secretaries of state | :43:27. | :43:33. | |
having a say in them appointment of the most senior civil servants, | :43:33. | :43:36. | |
which at the moment they cannot. you think that is the sort of case | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
you haven't minded terms of rebuilding the trust, confidence | :43:40. | :43:43. | |
after something like this which has shaken public confidence, | :43:43. | :43:46. | |
particularly in this franchise process. I think civil servants are | :43:46. | :43:49. | |
bright Kabul and they do for the most part a good job. I think in | :43:49. | :43:53. | |
this case, obviously there is something unacceptable what | :43:53. | :43:57. | |
happened. Ireland something interesting from Lord Adonis this | :43:57. | :44:02. | |
week, keep people had been removed out of that pot until Transport who | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
had expertise in handling these franchises. I think if necessary, | :44:06. | :44:11. | |
that kind of expertise should be so, did back to make sure that the | :44:11. | :44:15. | |
franchise, when it is rewarded, is done fairly and properly. Is this | :44:15. | :44:18. | |
fair, Michael, that there is a question of confidence, that we | :44:18. | :44:25. | |
need to rebuild trust enfranchising? Yes, but actually it | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
was there before. It was the restructuring of the department | :44:29. | :44:33. | |
which saw a third of its staff go and there was no senior civil | :44:33. | :44:37. | |
servant in charge of rail. It is not surprising that it happened. | :44:37. | :44:42. | |
What I want to see is that this waste of taxpayers' money, �50 | :44:42. | :44:46. | |
million, when fares are going up by 9%, I want to see an end of this | :44:47. | :44:50. | |
waste. But we've got to trust the brightest civil servants that we | :44:50. | :44:55. | |
have. They want to work with us but I think the more we award the | :44:55. | :44:59. | |
contract so openly and the franchising is open and transparent, | :44:59. | :45:03. | |
and our external monitoring can say yes, it is fair, the financial | :45:03. | :45:07. | |
projections are at City right, then we are delivering value for money. | :45:07. | :45:10. | |
Either -- otherwise, the cuts we are seeing in departments are | :45:10. | :45:19. | |
counter-productive. �50 million, which we can ill-afford. And he | :45:19. | :45:22. | |
lays the blame to some extent at the door of the government for what | :45:22. | :45:24. | |
you've done to the running of the Civil Service. A couple of things. | :45:24. | :45:28. | |
It is unacceptable to make a mistake of this order that such | :45:28. | :45:32. | |
huge expense to the taxpayer. But we've got to look ahead and the | :45:32. | :45:37. | |
most important thing is that the franchise, when it is rewarded, has | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
awarded fairly. In the interim, it is important to underline that | :45:40. | :45:45. | |
Virgin have promised to put them 106 extra carriages. Personally, I | :45:45. | :45:52. | |
hope they will put a few more standard carriages of. What is | :45:52. | :45:56. | |
important is that the public have confidence in their civil service. | :45:56. | :45:59. | |
I think we need to do what we can to support them. We will be back | :45:59. | :46:06. | |
with you it made it minute or two. The -- in a minute or two. Coming | :46:06. | :46:09. | |
up a little later: the Government wants councils to come-up with new | :46:09. | :46:12. | |
ways of making money, to balance their books. We report from the | :46:12. | :46:15. | |
council where they're cooking-up plans to go into business. But are | :46:15. | :46:18. | |
they taking a gamble with vital local services? Find out which of | :46:18. | :46:20. | |
our local authorities is embracing the Enterprise Culture so | :46:20. | :46:27. | |
enthusiastically, in a few minutes. This coming Thursday, business and | :46:27. | :46:29. | |
political leaders from Stoke-on- Trent will meet the Transport | :46:29. | :46:32. | |
Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, to ask him to reconsider the decision | :46:32. | :46:35. | |
not to give North Staffordshire its own station on the new high-speed | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
railway line. Unveiling the preferred route for the line north | :46:38. | :46:41. | |
of Birmingham, Mr McLoughlin said this was the beginning of the | :46:41. | :46:43. | |
conversation, not the end. Here's our Transport Correspondent, Peter | :46:44. | :46:48. | |
Plisner. It might be the fastest journey | :46:48. | :46:50. | |
ever between Birmingham and Manchester, but for staffordshire | :46:50. | :46:54. | |
there's no gain only pain. The latest HS2 route passes through the | :46:54. | :46:59. | |
heart of the county yet there's no station. An ommision that not | :46:59. | :47:02. | |
surprisingly wasn't lost on some of the region's MPs as the project was | :47:02. | :47:09. | |
debated in parliament. This road plunges through rural Britain, it | :47:09. | :47:13. | |
rural Staffordshire, and should use its lasting existing transport | :47:13. | :47:18. | |
corridors. Unless he have a station in the North Staffordshire area, | :47:18. | :47:22. | |
the damage that will be done to our economy is huge. If it is to bring | :47:22. | :47:27. | |
jobs and prosperity to the wider West Midlands region, a stop as | :47:27. | :47:31. | |
required in Staffordshire. There is real and in Stoke-on-Trent that it | :47:31. | :47:35. | |
skims to the west of the Potteries and doesn't stop. And anger from | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
MPs is an -- matched by and on that ground. Hundreds of properties have | :47:40. | :47:44. | |
been blighted. The owners of the Staffordshire cottage are already | :47:44. | :47:49. | |
struggling to sell. We have put it on the market two years ago. | :47:49. | :47:57. | |
had offers. But people are worried and concerned about the train. | :47:57. | :48:00. | |
though the new line will not become reality for at least 20 years, it | :48:00. | :48:04. | |
is still a major problem. It is very difficult. What he do? It's | :48:04. | :48:11. | |
all very well for them to say don't panic but do you do that extension? | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
Do you alter your property? He puts your life on hold. A hybrid bill | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
allowing the line construction to start has yet to pass through | :48:19. | :48:22. | |
Parliament although the process has come -- expected to start later | :48:22. | :48:26. | |
this year. Despite the project gaining cross-party support, | :48:26. | :48:36. | |
:48:36. | :48:51. | ||
getting it onto the statute book By we have been lobbying all the | :48:51. | :48:55. | |
way through. You haven't been very successful. All is still to play | :48:55. | :49:01. | |
for. The government is missing a trick. The current route on the | :49:01. | :49:04. | |
proposed stations, they are looking at the current cities, the current | :49:04. | :49:08. | |
course cities. What it is failing to take account of his emerging | :49:08. | :49:11. | |
cities that will be there in 20 years' time. North Staffordshire, | :49:11. | :49:17. | |
it is planning to grow by 5% of the next 10 years. With that wide | :49:17. | :49:22. | |
accommodation in mind, isn't it important that it is in Crewe you | :49:22. | :49:28. | |
half the hub. I don't think he will get the economic benefits without | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
the spur off at Crewe as you would with a had station in north | :49:31. | :49:34. | |
Staffordshire itself. We are in manufacturing economy. Government | :49:34. | :49:40. | |
is looking to the private sector to create jobs, to export and you have | :49:40. | :49:43. | |
a fantastic Centre in north Staffordshire. We are seeing | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
businesses coming back, production coming back from overseas into | :49:47. | :49:51. | |
North Staffordshire. Businesses are investing. New companies are moving | :49:51. | :49:54. | |
into the area. It's those businesses that government needs to | :49:54. | :50:00. | |
support. It is an obvious point to make but it cannot remain a high- | :50:00. | :50:03. | |
speed line if it has stops between the principal cities for stop let's | :50:03. | :50:07. | |
face it, it is mainly about serving the likes of Birmingham, Manchester | :50:07. | :50:12. | |
and Leeds. I think we've lost it here with the high speed. High | :50:12. | :50:18. | |
speed is important but it is more about capacity in my view. It is | :50:18. | :50:22. | |
capacity, it is linking North Staffordshire and Staffordshire in | :50:22. | :50:28. | |
the growing economies, to London and Europe. Do you think you can | :50:28. | :50:31. | |
make a difference? When you have any kind of hope so realistically | :50:31. | :50:36. | |
of getting Patrick Berger Clinton think again on this? Absolutely. We | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
have a business case and it shows that there are real benefits to the | :50:40. | :50:44. | |
UK. We are going to be presenting its case and we are going to be | :50:44. | :50:48. | |
saying to a government, to join up its thinking on cities, call cities | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
and its transport agenda, and see the real place for North | :50:53. | :50:57. | |
Staffordshire in the future of this. I know you have taken a place -- a | :50:57. | :51:01. | |
personal interest in North Staffordshire yourself. What do you | :51:01. | :51:06. | |
make about the argument for stop there? I do think it it a good | :51:06. | :51:09. | |
chance that has been missed. For decades now, North Staffordshire | :51:09. | :51:14. | |
has been overlooked, despite that we've reinvented ourselves. We have | :51:14. | :51:20. | |
risen like a phoenix. I see us, having the benefits, it is going to | :51:20. | :51:24. | |
Crewe. Much more effectively, it could be fair, closer to the | :51:24. | :51:29. | |
current rail links. Over and above all of that, what we need now is | :51:29. | :51:33. | |
certainty. With got to agree what we need and go full speed ahead to | :51:33. | :51:37. | |
get it. There you what. Beef had them both. A government keeps | :51:37. | :51:41. | |
talking about rebalancing the economy. Putting a stop into Stowe | :51:41. | :51:44. | |
could be the perfect way of doing it. I don't think there is any | :51:44. | :51:47. | |
doubt that if you have a station, you get the pain and the game. | :51:48. | :51:51. | |
Birmingham International would be the first stop from London and the | :51:51. | :51:54. | |
journey time between London and Birmingham International would be | :51:54. | :52:02. | |
31 minutes. That is a Shujah game. But nonetheless, there is a impact. | :52:02. | :52:08. | |
-- that is a huge game. The more stop you put in, the slower it gets. | :52:08. | :52:11. | |
It would be 57 minutes, I understand, from Manchester to | :52:11. | :52:15. | |
London. But we have to look at the connectivity here. Jane told us she | :52:15. | :52:20. | |
got to Birmingham and 30 minutes on a Pendolino. If you had the 31 | :52:20. | :52:23. | |
minutes of that take you to go to London, that is one hour and one | :52:23. | :52:26. | |
minute to London for residents in Stoke-on-Trent. Likewise, Berrer -- | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
but a connectivity to Manchester. It think it is looking at | :52:30. | :52:34. | |
connections as well as the benefits. They can do in France and Belgium. | :52:34. | :52:39. | |
Every week, I travel on high-speed trains. There is sometimes 20 | :52:39. | :52:46. | |
minutes between the Brussels and the Lille. They're both vibrant. | :52:46. | :52:50. | |
The he was putting money into an Italian high-speed train. And we | :52:50. | :52:53. | |
are putting money into this if the government decides it's a high | :52:53. | :52:55. | |
speed leg. The plans are currently going through Parliament as we | :52:55. | :53:02. | |
speak. Thinking about the politics. A lot of York Tory colleagues Orin | :53:02. | :53:10. | |
rebellion on this. -- a lot of your Tory colleagues are rim rebellion | :53:10. | :53:16. | |
on this. There is a sense that the top brass want to press ahead but | :53:16. | :53:20. | |
this is doing nothing to ease the disquiet. The announcement of the | :53:20. | :53:24. | |
route north of Birmingham has brought more of that sense of | :53:24. | :53:27. | |
reality in my own constituency, that this high-speed rail is going | :53:27. | :53:31. | |
to come. The engineers are getting around all the villages, explaining | :53:31. | :53:36. | |
how to mitigate... Many thousands of people feel very badly done by. | :53:36. | :53:40. | |
I do think up the compensation doesn't need to be looked at. I | :53:40. | :53:50. | |
:53:50. | :53:50. | ||
have argued eight case for Moyes, tours. -- argued day-case for more | :53:50. | :53:58. | |
use com tours. I have been prepared to press for that. Jane, he will. | :53:58. | :54:02. | |
We are 20 years away from actually seeing these trains, possibly more. | :54:02. | :54:08. | |
Make a prediction. Do you think you will succeed in this campaign? | :54:08. | :54:12. | |
think we have a very good chance because the minister has said that | :54:12. | :54:17. | |
these are just proposals at the moment. In terms of investment and | :54:17. | :54:22. | |
confidence that business needs, just by the very nature of | :54:22. | :54:25. | |
announcing there will be hard station, we will see the benefits | :54:25. | :54:28. | |
immediately. We will have increasing business confidence, | :54:28. | :54:33. | |
increasing investment. You are convinced it is an economic game | :54:33. | :54:39. | |
changed. It will be. We need the extra capacity in the UK, there is | :54:39. | :54:44. | |
no doubt about that. We need it to support economic regeneration and | :54:44. | :54:47. | |
to remain competitive with Europe and the rest of the world. Thank | :54:47. | :54:57. | |
:54:57. | :55:04. | ||
you all very much. Freeze, freeze, freeze - that's the | :55:04. | :55:06. | |
emphatic warning from the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, | :55:06. | :55:08. | |
to any local authorities considering putting-up council tax. | :55:08. | :55:11. | |
With yet deeper cuts to their funding for years to come. They're | :55:11. | :55:14. | |
under pressure, not just to save money, but to make it too. And as | :55:14. | :55:16. | |
our Shropshire Political Reporter Liz Roberts explains, they're | :55:16. | :55:25. | |
looking at new ways of generating income. | :55:25. | :55:27. | |
The Medieval market town of Shrewsbury, famous for it's | :55:27. | :55:30. | |
historic buildings, it's flower show and for being the birthplace | :55:30. | :55:33. | |
of Charles Darwin. His book, On the Origin of Species, first | :55:33. | :55:35. | |
established the theory of evolution, and now Shrewsbury is witnessing | :55:35. | :55:45. | |
:55:45. | :55:50. | ||
the emergence of a new breed. Of local council. For the first time | :55:50. | :55:53. | |
in a generation, striving councils now have licence to go full steam | :55:53. | :55:56. | |
ahead and grab a share of the wealth for their local areas and to | :55:56. | :55:58. | |
stand tall and seize the opportunities of enterprise, growth | :55:58. | :56:08. | |
:56:08. | :56:10. | ||
Of course that wasn't Charles Darwin but a modern day exponent of | :56:10. | :56:12. | |
evolutionary theory Secretary of State for Local Government Eric | :56:12. | :56:15. | |
Pickles. His message to local councils, adapt to survive. It's | :56:15. | :56:18. | |
lunchtime at this high school and there are hundreds of hungry mouths | :56:18. | :56:21. | |
to feed. They are so good at cooking school dinners here, they | :56:21. | :56:25. | |
are already selling them to local council areas. We had to come up | :56:25. | :56:31. | |
with a plan how to deal with future cuts. We are planning to create a | :56:31. | :56:34. | |
company and trade to the market place. We do lots of councils will | :56:34. | :56:37. | |
have huge cuts again potentially and they will be looking to make | :56:37. | :56:41. | |
savings have already, a good number of them are asking us what we do | :56:41. | :56:45. | |
and how we can help them. Eventually, Shropshire council | :56:45. | :56:51. | |
hopes to move to majority of its 6000 staff into the company. The | :56:51. | :56:53. | |
Local Government Association says the scale the plans is | :56:54. | :56:56. | |
unprecedented but the idea of making profit from a council | :56:56. | :57:04. | |
service isn't necessarily new. In Stoke-on-Trent, the City Council | :57:04. | :57:11. | |
joined forces with a construction and engineering firm in 2008. Keir | :57:11. | :57:14. | |
Stoke's core business was the maintenance of 19,000 council | :57:14. | :57:17. | |
houses. But it's plan to grow the business and make some money has | :57:17. | :57:22. | |
not been easy. It was almost to the point of dissolving the partnership | :57:22. | :57:25. | |
but we reduced waste, the response time went down, tenants became much | :57:25. | :57:30. | |
happier with the way things were working. Now, it has settled into | :57:30. | :57:35. | |
quite a nice working relationship. It is a cautionary tale. Don't | :57:35. | :57:40. | |
gamble with Kumble -- public money without her large slice of | :57:40. | :57:44. | |
commercial know-how. Enter into this knowing you have an escape | :57:44. | :57:50. | |
route. Where are the opportunities to trade in services? I've already | :57:50. | :57:55. | |
seen the have been one of two councils which have made a huge | :57:55. | :58:00. | |
assumptions. Local authorities are being encouraged to choose their | :58:00. | :58:05. | |
Rome methods of survival. Will the fittest be those prepared to | :58:05. | :58:15. | |
:58:15. | :58:20. | ||
embrace radical change and will the rest face extinction? | :58:20. | :58:25. | |
My latest online post has more honest. There is an example of | :58:25. | :58:31. | |
Shropshire responding creatively to the pressure but Eric Pickles is | :58:31. | :58:40. | |
put him among the. -- putting them under. This is what we do best. | :58:40. | :58:44. | |
When you give them the opportunity to think creatively... It must not | :58:44. | :58:49. | |
be at the expense of losing democratic accountability, good | :58:49. | :58:55. | |
local services. It must not be at the expense -- at the expense of | :58:55. | :58:59. | |
people currently moving from one job to another, who will you lose | :58:59. | :59:04. | |
rights and benefits. We had a chorus of complaints in recent | :59:04. | :59:07. | |
months from predominantly Labour- led authorities about cuts and | :59:07. | :59:14. | |
their revenue grant. Isn't this has a role model? I'm not going to rush | :59:14. | :59:20. | |
to judge. I'm going to support them in this innovation. There are | :59:20. | :59:26. | |
caviats. If it works, why not? I want high-class public services | :59:26. | :59:29. | |
delivered and Yuletide love, if they're going to make money, to see | :59:29. | :59:33. | |
a dividend returned via the community tax to the people who | :59:33. | :59:39. | |
live in the boroughs. Caroline, you shadowed communities while in | :59:39. | :59:42. | |
opposition. There is an issue about local accountability, isn't there? | :59:42. | :59:46. | |
It's very much more difficult to be directly accountable when you've | :59:46. | :59:50. | |
got arms-length companies and things being contacted away. | :59:50. | :59:55. | |
don't think so. The council still has to contract, as you say, has to | :59:55. | :59:58. | |
commission a service. If you and I will not happy with the services | :59:58. | :00:03. | |
that it has contracted, we can still vote politicians in and out. | :00:03. | :00:07. | |
This point about profitability we shouldn't shy away from. I | :00:07. | :00:11. | |
understand that Stoke-on-Trent but only was the relationship good, as | :00:11. | :00:16. | |
they councillor described and they made a profit of �250,000... These | :00:16. | :00:21. | |
can be ploughed back into improving services. Gay but we heard that | :00:21. | :00:29. | |
there are no border guarantees. There are concerns. -- but we could | :00:29. | :00:34. | |
hear it... They have the profits to show for it. The entrepreneurial | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
spirit in Shropshire is being tested. Let's not forget that | :00:39. | :00:46. | |
counsellors can bring in more money such as Sony Hull, -- Solihull... | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
They've built a lot of new houses. But Trott trip is a unitary | :00:51. | :01:01. | |
:01:01. | :01:01. | ||
authority. Does it make it easier to do it? -- Shropshire. The last | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
thing people want is another shake- up of local government. Let's make | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
sure it delivers. University of Birmingham has done Bryne to work | :01:09. | :01:19. | |
:01:19. | :01:21. | ||
on this. Yes, there are some who were getting it right. The contract | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
may go on. The other thing that came out was the importance of | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
commercial nice when you go into these relationships with the | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
private sector. As I have said about civil service reform, | :01:32. | :01:35. | |
experience for civil servants outside, in the private sector, | :01:35. | :01:42. | |
brought back into the public sector can only be a good thing. | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
Now our regular round-up of the political week in the Midlands in | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
60 seconds. Here's BBC WM's political reporter Elizabeth Glinka. | :01:49. | :01:51. | |
More than 100 jobs have been secured at the Coventry-based black | :01:51. | :01:57. | |
cab maker Manganese Bronze. The company, which makes the world- | :01:57. | :02:00. | |
famous London black cabs, has been bought by the Chinese automotive | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
firm Geeley for �11 million. A �50 million boost to beat the | :02:05. | :02:07. | |
region's jams. Cash will be spent on improving junctions and free | :02:07. | :02:15. | |
buses for jobseekers to get to interviews. | :02:15. | :02:24. | |
To help people get to bed into use by bus. The Six more local TV | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
stations are being planned. In addition to City TV in Birmingham | :02:27. | :02:29. | |
there could be similar channels in Malvern, Hereford, Stoke, | :02:29. | :02:31. | |
Kidderminster, Bromsgrove and Stratford. | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
What makes a good Brummie? Brummie Ambassadors are being considered to | :02:36. | :02:39. | |
help white working class and Eastern European migrants feel more | :02:39. | :02:41. | |
at home. And a new training centre has | :02:41. | :02:43. | |
opened in Birmingham for the construction workers of the future. | :02:44. | :02:46. | |
Apprentices at the Wilmott Dixon Academy will work on the | :02:46. | :02:56. | |
:02:56. | :02:58. | ||
maintenance of 60,000 council AA will needed boost for the | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
construction industry with those of apprenticeships. Given that the | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
industry is predicted to contract for two years, the wonder what | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
those apprentices are signing up to. This construction skills can be | :03:09. | :03:17. | |
used on the new high-speed rail line, phase one. The new super- | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
casino which is being built at the NEC for example also. That's on top | :03:21. | :03:27. | |
of all the housing which is planned. These are good skills to invest in. | :03:27. | :03:33. | |
We need those skills, did we? What an irony that in region like ours | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
has a skills shortage. A City. I was pleased to see that because it | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
was something I dealt with in the northern part of the region, when | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
we saw huge numbers of people being made redundant. We got money from | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
the European Union to retrain and Rhys Gill. That is what the biggest | :03:49. | :03:54. | |
problems a region faces, getting investment in which is the low | :03:54. | :03:57. | |
skills base. The report from the London School of Economics says it | :03:57. | :04:05. | |
is about innovation, infrastructure and people. Will it work? It is | :04:05. | :04:08. | |
always important to invest in skills and investing in young | :04:08. | :04:14. | |
people. We need in our area. think we can say all of us, we | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
agree with that. My thanks to Caroline Spelman and Michael | :04:17. | :04:24. | |
Cashman. Next week, we expect the Francis | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
Report on Stafford Hospital to be published on Wednesday. Midlands | :04:28. | :04:35. | |
Today, BBC Radio Stoke and BBC WM will have the details. And among | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
our guests next Sunday will be arguably the most powerful person | :04:38. | :04:40. |