:01:32. > :01:35.And coming up and 30 minutes... Calls for the Government to move
:01:35. > :01:45.thousands of civil servants from London to Yorkshire in a bid to
:01:45. > :01:45.
:01:45. > :31:00.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1754 seconds
:31:00. > :31:03.Good morning. You are watching the Sunday politics for Yorkshire and
:31:04. > :31:09.Lincolnshire. We're going to have a round-up of
:31:09. > :31:11.the top political stories in our part of the world.
:31:11. > :31:14.And we build a cut calls for the Government to move thousands of
:31:14. > :31:21.civil servants from London to Yorkshire in a bid to boost the
:31:21. > :31:26.northern economy. MSP guests today are Craig Whitaker,
:31:26. > :31:32.the Conservative MP, and Pahl Turner, a Labour MP for Hull East.
:31:32. > :31:36.Craig, let's get this out of the way. There was an allegation in the
:31:36. > :31:39.national newspapers this week that you were arrested on suspicion of
:31:39. > :31:44.assault on Boxing Day following an alleged incident involving a member
:31:44. > :31:48.of your family. What more can you tell us about that? I don't know if
:31:49. > :31:52.I can tell you any more about it, but the police did make me aware of
:31:53. > :31:57.the allegations in the new year. I give a full statement and they are
:31:57. > :31:59.now carrying out a full investigation. It would probably be
:31:59. > :32:04.inappropriate for me to say anything else at this stage.
:32:04. > :32:07.she will fight those allegations? Yes.
:32:07. > :32:14.At a busy week for you. You have written an article for the morning
:32:14. > :32:18.Star, the socialist newspaper. I should call you, at Coral? Is the
:32:19. > :32:25.revolution in the air? Appointed made in the article is
:32:25. > :32:30.correct. The Government is imposing really severe cuts in my
:32:30. > :32:35.constituency, while at the same time trying to sign off a bonus to
:32:35. > :32:38.and RBS chief Executive of more than �1 million. It just seemed
:32:38. > :32:42.absolutely ludicrous and I needed to say something.
:32:42. > :32:46.We can talk about bankers all day, but we will save that for another
:32:46. > :32:51.time. We are asking, should subjects such
:32:51. > :32:56.as horse care and Neil technology be just as important as academic
:32:56. > :33:00.qualifications when it comes to school league tables. It debate is
:33:00. > :33:10.raging in schools across the area about the value of vocational
:33:10. > :33:13.
:33:13. > :33:17.courses. These students in Grimsby are
:33:17. > :33:22.working towards their diploma in performing arts. The qualification
:33:23. > :33:27.is currently worth the equivalent of four GCSEs. But what use is a B
:33:27. > :33:32.Tech in later life? It has given us a hands-on
:33:32. > :33:36.experience to put on our own show, sort out the lighting, tickets,
:33:36. > :33:41.front-of-house people. If you look at the highest professions and the
:33:41. > :33:45.country, quite often there vocationally based. Vocational
:33:45. > :33:49.qualifications can engage young people and make them engage with a
:33:50. > :33:53.wider learning and they will achieve higher skills across the
:33:54. > :33:59.full curriculum. This week, it was confirmed that
:33:59. > :34:03.many courses such as fish husbandry, nails technology and horse care
:34:03. > :34:07.will no longer carry the same weight as many academic subjects.
:34:07. > :34:13.At the moment, some vocational qualifications can be worth up to
:34:13. > :34:19.six GCSEs. But a Government report recommends that more than 3,100
:34:19. > :34:24.vocational subjects should be reduced to just 125 if they are to
:34:24. > :34:30.count in school league tables. think that children have been lied
:34:30. > :34:35.to. They have been told that things are worth five GCSEs and they were
:34:35. > :34:41.not. It is truly important that you should tell the truth to children.
:34:41. > :34:44.There has been much controversy over the decision to downgrade the
:34:44. > :34:48.Engineering Diploma, which is studied by many young people in
:34:48. > :34:54.Grimsby. This comes at a time when potentially thousands of new jobs
:34:54. > :34:58.could be created in the green energy sector on and the Humber.
:34:58. > :35:01.That diploma was written alongside leading industrial professionals.
:35:01. > :35:06.We have a dearth of highly- qualified engineers in this country
:35:06. > :35:12.and we should be promoting that qualifications. We need to be
:35:12. > :35:16.looking at what local industry has to offer, a local employment Opera
:35:16. > :35:20.sureties for a young students, especially when you consider that
:35:20. > :35:26.Grimsby youngsters are amongst the highest in the country that are not
:35:26. > :35:31.in education employment or training once they leave school at 16.
:35:32. > :35:37.So, there appears to be a vocal lobby urging the Government to look
:35:37. > :35:45.again at the baddie of many vocational qualifications. -- the
:35:45. > :35:49.value. We have been joined by Janice Hague
:35:49. > :35:54.there from the Federation of Small Businesses. Craig, many young
:35:54. > :35:59.people who live on vocational qualifications if they are not very
:35:59. > :36:03.academically gifted. Is there is a short-sighted decision? It is an
:36:04. > :36:06.incredibly right decision. We're not talking about whether these
:36:06. > :36:10.qualifications add value, but whether they have an equivalent to
:36:10. > :36:14.those young people getting a job. We know from having one million
:36:14. > :36:22.people that are not in employment, education or training that actually,
:36:22. > :36:27.it is not working. We need to add better value. Prior to Christmas,
:36:27. > :36:30.the education team met with Microsoft, who said at we have
:36:30. > :36:34.100,000 job vacancies in this country for computer science. I
:36:35. > :36:40.said it is ridiculous, because 17% of our graduates are unemployed.
:36:40. > :36:45.They said we teach the wrong type of IT. Basically, we teacher kids
:36:45. > :36:50.to drive, but not the mechanics below. So this is about to putting
:36:50. > :36:56.some equivalent back into those vocational subjects and making sure
:36:56. > :37:01.it is worth employment. Professor Alison Wolf said that young people
:37:01. > :37:06.have been lied to about the value of these vocational qualifications.
:37:06. > :37:11.It makes some very interesting points. Some of her points are
:37:11. > :37:15.correct. English, maths and science are very important. But vocational
:37:15. > :37:19.qualifications are just as important. It is hypocritical of
:37:19. > :37:22.the Government. They're saying that free schools can teach what they
:37:22. > :37:29.like and some are teaching etiquette and find dining. It seems
:37:29. > :37:34.bonkers to me. When I speak to employers, such as Siemens, who
:37:34. > :37:38.were about to hopefully move to my area of the country with offshore
:37:38. > :37:47.wind technology, they do not say to me that they're looking for people
:37:47. > :37:52.who are good at last on. They want engineers. -- Latton. It is
:37:52. > :37:57.important that some qualifications are accepted and recognised. It is
:37:57. > :38:01.very important and it is the crux of everything. We have far too many
:38:01. > :38:05.young people coming out of education who cannot read or write
:38:05. > :38:10.properly and have poor social skills. That is why the Government
:38:10. > :38:16.are saying that we have to get her standards back up in those areas.
:38:16. > :38:21.It is important to acknowledge this. A in the last 12 months, people who
:38:21. > :38:28.are not in education or training, their employment has increased
:38:28. > :38:32.massively under this Government. Can I bring in Janice Hague from
:38:32. > :38:37.the Federation of Small Businesses? How seriously are some of these
:38:37. > :38:41.vocational qualifications taken by employers? If a young person turns
:38:41. > :38:45.up in it with a qualification in horse care or fish husbandry, will
:38:45. > :38:49.it stand them in good stead? If I was running a stable if fish farm,
:38:49. > :38:56.it would stand them in good stead. But if I am running my business, it
:38:56. > :39:00.is not going to be suitable. The main point we have to bear in mind
:39:00. > :39:06.is that the range of qualifications is not narrowed to far come up
:39:06. > :39:11.because then, small businesses - and it must be remembered that over
:39:11. > :39:15.99% of businesses employ less than 50 people, so the employees that
:39:15. > :39:20.they want need to have the basic literacy and numeracy of a good
:39:20. > :39:24.standard, but they also need to have a wide range of skills that
:39:24. > :39:29.can be brought into that business. The smaller the business, the wider
:39:29. > :39:39.the range of skills that is needed. Simple things like knowing how to
:39:39. > :39:44.file. And not having to look for a telephone bill under F four phone.
:39:44. > :39:51.That kind of thing is something that needs to be borne in mind. The
:39:51. > :39:55.education of authority needs to include basic entrepreneur schools,
:39:55. > :40:02.business skills and they need to be talking to organisations such as
:40:02. > :40:06.ours and small employers to say, or what is it you're looking for?
:40:06. > :40:12.over one year ago, George Osborne got to his feet and talked about
:40:12. > :40:16.the march of the makers. It seems to me slightly contradictory when
:40:16. > :40:19.its Education Secretary is now saying that these vocational
:40:19. > :40:26.qualifications are worth very little. I think that is
:40:26. > :40:30.hypocritical. They're not saying that. They are saying that they are
:40:30. > :40:35.not equivalent to the standard of education that we need. Under the
:40:35. > :40:38.last Government, or we saw a huge decline in Britain's standing in
:40:38. > :40:43.the national comparative league tables in maths, English and
:40:43. > :40:49.science. If we want to engineers, we're going to have to have those
:40:49. > :40:54.qualifications to supply them. for the large employers, and they
:40:54. > :41:00.will want to a fairly narrow level of Engineering, very specialist.
:41:00. > :41:06.That is fine. But it must be remembered that less than 0.1% of
:41:06. > :41:11.businesses employ more than 250 people. If you are talking about
:41:11. > :41:16.employability skills for smaller businesses, then and they want
:41:16. > :41:20.vocational training, yes, but along with other things. I think what
:41:20. > :41:30.needs to be looked at is the quality of that vocational training
:41:30. > :41:34.and how narrow it is and how fit nobody is saying we do away with
:41:34. > :41:37.these vocational things at all. We are saying they are part of
:41:37. > :41:42.though it wider curriculum but they do not carry the same weight as
:41:42. > :41:48.GCSEs. There seems to be an obsession with the English
:41:48. > :41:51.Baccalaureate. It seems they're going back to the 1950s. They need
:41:51. > :41:56.to look very carefully at areas like mine and speak to companies
:41:56. > :41:59.like Siemens offshore wind and find out what employers really are
:41:59. > :42:04.looking for a. Engineering is extremely important in my area.
:42:04. > :42:11.Colleges, the city council, these people are working together to try
:42:11. > :42:21.and encourage these skills. What Michael Gove is suggesting is quite
:42:21. > :42:25.
:42:25. > :42:29.wrong. He is not saying that. needs to be looking at the area.
:42:29. > :42:33.The skills that are required in a particular area. It may be
:42:33. > :42:37.Engineering. But we do need to be looking at not narrowing the
:42:37. > :42:42.curriculum too far. We will have to leave that there.
:42:42. > :42:45.Thank you for coming in today. First ruler for scare, buy yourself
:42:45. > :42:55.a big shovel. Let's reflect now on the week's
:42:55. > :42:55.
:42:55. > :42:59.political news in our part of the world in 60 Seconds.
:42:59. > :43:04.Given the fact that we give many times more aid to India than France
:43:04. > :43:10.ever did... Tory big beasts David Davis abroad his disapproval at the
:43:10. > :43:15.Indian Government's decision to buy fighter planes from the French. It
:43:15. > :43:20.is at a time when BAE Systems is shedding hundreds of jobs in his
:43:20. > :43:24.East Yorkshire constituency. In a week of Liberal Democrat
:43:24. > :43:31.departures, Rebecca Taylor began her career as the party's new Euro
:43:31. > :43:35.MP for the Yorkshire and Humber region, replacing Diana volleys.
:43:35. > :43:41.The English Democrats descended on Sheffield to launch their campaign
:43:41. > :43:47.for a Yes vote in a's referendum on whether four Yorkshire cities
:43:47. > :43:52.should have directly elected mares. And York saw protests over comments
:43:52. > :43:55.made by the Archbishop, where he outlined his operation --
:43:55. > :44:02.opposition to gay marriage. Any change in the law is supported by
:44:02. > :44:06.David Cameron. Gay marriage. David Cameron is
:44:06. > :44:11.committed to a change in the law, but he is going to be met by
:44:11. > :44:16.opposition from both Conservatives with a small sea and a pixie.
:44:16. > :44:20.Absolutely. Although David has said and we will be debating at some
:44:20. > :44:30.point in this year about gay marriage, I think there has to be a
:44:30. > :44:31.
:44:31. > :44:34.lot of convincing to be had. There BA East system decision...
:44:34. > :44:37.David Davis is unhappy. Is there anything more the Government could
:44:37. > :44:41.have done to try and secure that deal?
:44:41. > :44:46.I am not sure that there is. David Davis raised this and Prime
:44:46. > :44:54.Minister's Questions last week. It seems worrying to people like me
:44:54. > :44:58.that BAE Systems is shedding 900 jobs in our area when this contract
:44:58. > :45:05.is going to the French. It is a real concern and deer did was right
:45:05. > :45:10.to raise it. Is it right that we pay �1 billion
:45:10. > :45:16.in aid to be to the Indians? This is a country but the huge defence
:45:16. > :45:20.budget and a space programme. A partially agrees. I think it is
:45:20. > :45:27.only morally right that we help the poorest children in the world be
:45:27. > :45:31.vaccinated. That is most important. But on the same token, I think we
:45:31. > :45:34.are the only country in the world that gives aid in the way we do
:45:34. > :45:36.with no strings attached. We need to look at that.
:45:37. > :45:39.There are too many bowler-hatted civil servants in London and many
:45:40. > :45:43.of them should come and work up North, bringing their well paid
:45:43. > :45:45.jobs with them. That's the view of Labour MP John Mann, who is
:45:45. > :45:50.proposing that two entire ministries shift to Leeds and
:45:50. > :46:00.Sheffield and another six move to other cities. But as Len Tingle has
:46:00. > :46:00.
:46:00. > :46:05.been discovering, this has been tried before with mixed success.
:46:05. > :46:08.Security cameras, heavily-guarded, it is more like a bunker than an
:46:08. > :46:13.office block. And that is not surprising, considering the history
:46:13. > :46:17.of this building in Sheffield. 30 years ago, the jobless were on the
:46:17. > :46:21.march - over 2 million were on the dole. But then Thatcher Government
:46:21. > :46:25.worried about civil unrest and imported a controversial American
:46:25. > :46:30.idea of compulsory training schemes. That is why this building was
:46:30. > :46:35.needed. The thousands of civil servants running those schemes were
:46:35. > :46:38.hoist here. The massed ranks of protesters never turned up here,
:46:38. > :46:44.but the massed ranks of civil servants brought much-needed high
:46:44. > :46:48.paid salaries. We had the Manpower Services Commission and land here
:46:49. > :46:55.in 1979, which brought many jobs into the city. The bulk of those
:46:55. > :46:59.are still here. Yes, some jobs to come and go, but it has given us a
:46:59. > :47:04.platform to build a growth. envious eyes are still being cast
:47:04. > :47:07.here. Most of these London commuters are heading for the desks
:47:07. > :47:11.in big Government departments, despite umpteen reports and
:47:11. > :47:15.inquiries advising successive governments that they could do the
:47:16. > :47:20.same job elsewhere. At least one northern MP has had enough.
:47:20. > :47:24.With modern communications, a move of work and pensions to Leeds, a
:47:24. > :47:29.mood of the business Department to Sheffield, could be done in a
:47:29. > :47:33.matter of months. This is not a big move in terms of the logistics.
:47:33. > :47:38.Psychologically, it is enormous, because it is cutting down the
:47:38. > :47:42.power of Whitehall and London. That is why the Civil Service has always
:47:42. > :47:45.resisted at. But there have been attempts to shift existing
:47:45. > :47:49.departments before with mixed results. This was the most
:47:49. > :47:54.ambitious scheme of the Mall, shifting bureaucratic power and
:47:54. > :47:59.thousands of jobs from London to Leeds to run the entire National
:47:59. > :48:05.Health Service from here. It was expensive and controversial.
:48:05. > :48:11.Probably the most controversial part of it was this building. It
:48:11. > :48:16.cost �55 million. It is known locally as the Kremlin and to tempt
:48:16. > :48:20.Whitehall workers North, it was equipped with plush carpets, a
:48:20. > :48:25.swimming pool and expense of artworks. Within a few years,
:48:25. > :48:28.policies changed, budgets were cut and hundreds made redundant. But it
:48:28. > :48:32.could all change again, with the promise of becoming the
:48:32. > :48:38.headquarters for the new NHS commissioning Board. Are a long-
:48:38. > :48:42.term solution or a temporary fix? Coral, your predecessor, John
:48:42. > :48:48.Prescott, said he wanted to get more or Government departments out
:48:48. > :48:52.of London. But it never really happened. There were some examples.
:48:52. > :48:56.Some a move to Sheffield and Leeds and it was successful. Recently,
:48:56. > :49:02.the BBC had decided to move to Salford. Some are complaining there
:49:02. > :49:08.are not enough local jobs created as a result. There is a problem at
:49:08. > :49:12.the moment. The North-South divide is increasing under this Government.
:49:13. > :49:18.Be scrapped the regional development agencies. The points
:49:18. > :49:21.John makes are correct. I would welcome the new Secretary of State
:49:21. > :49:25.for Energy and climate change to haul East. He would be very
:49:25. > :49:30.welcomed by businesses in the city. The consul could find in the some
:49:30. > :49:34.nice accommodation. You would need to watch out for the speed cameras!
:49:34. > :49:40.Why can't we get more jobs out of Whitehall and Yorkshire? I think it
:49:40. > :49:45.is short-sighted. Take Calder Vale. We have the third most vulnerable
:49:45. > :49:51.local economy in the whole of the UK. That is because of our heavy
:49:51. > :49:55.reliance on Lloyds TSB. We need more diversity. When one sector
:49:55. > :50:00.does feel or has a glitch, the whole town and local economy will
:50:01. > :50:05.not die with that. Leave it where it is, let's get on and create
:50:05. > :50:08.local business locally and let's have that adversity. A lot of
:50:08. > :50:12.people will say there are too many people on the public pay roll and
:50:13. > :50:18.that is part of the problem. That is part of the argument. There is
:50:18. > :50:22.pros and cons to this. I have read the speech. I think it makes some
:50:22. > :50:28.very interesting points. It is about rebalancing the economy and
:50:28. > :50:32.the North is suffering. If we can get civil servants into the North,
:50:32. > :50:37.I would welcome them. I think it is a great idea. It will work for the
:50:37. > :50:41.BBC in Salford, so why not try it with Government departments?
:50:41. > :50:44.We must leave it there. Thank you both were braving the big freeze
:50:44. > :50:48.today. That's about it from us. You can