Trade, Exports, Innovation and Productivity — House of Commons, 2016-01-13
Topic: Education
Lucy Claire Leigh (Frazer) (Conservative, Centre-right): The motion suggests that there is a lack of a long-term plan to improve productivity and it is also critical of the Government’s approach to innovation. The motion is not only inaccurate, but unnecessarily pessimistic and bleak. Like the hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson), I think it is important to celebrate what is good The hon. Member for Dundee East (Stewart Hosie) stressed the importance of innovation, and we ought to recognise the great work we are doing in Britain at the moment in science and technology. The UK is ranked fourth in the business world for business and university collaboration; it attracts more research and development funding from abroad than Finland, Russia, Canada, Japan and China combined; and the UK produces 16% of the top-quality published research findings with less than 1% of the world’s population. The Government are ensuring that we maintain this position by investing almost £7 billion in UK research infrastructure up to 2021. I represent an area at the forefront of technology and innovation. The east of England is one of the highest investors in R and D across the UK. We have companies such as ARM, which creates the processors found in most mobile phones across the world and which in its short 26-year history has joined the FTSE 100. We have more than 100 businesses at the Cambridge science park, providing more than 500 jobs, developing our science and technology. Having spoken to many of those businesses, it is clear to me that what we need to do to continue this great work is to be constantly more ambitious and to invest in our human capital. It is fundamental that we teach children in schools the right skills, and I am delighted that we now have a commitment from the Chancellor to a fairer funding deal It is disappointing that, in an area of academic excellence so close to Cambridge University where we have the potential for world-class education, we have not as yet had a fairer funding arrangement. However, I am delighted that this Government have committed to creating 17,500 more teaching posts in science, technology, engineering and maths. We must ensure that our teaching is inspiring students as young as seven and eight, because research has shown that that is the age at which children decide whether technology and science are for them. We also need to ensure that, once inspired, there is advanced technical education that will enable students to have the much-needed and sought after skills for their employment I welcome developments such as the University Technical College Cambridge and I applaud Anglia Ruskin University for teaching an international trade two-year course. Recognised as the first of its kind, the course was developed in partnership with the Institute of Export and is taught online by university tutors and international trade experts. We need to encourage our students to learn not just technical expertise, but languages, including Mandarin. In 1990, only 500 students were studying Mandarin. That number has now grown to about 3,000, though, recently, the numbers studying Mandarin have fallen. If we are to continue to increase our exports, we need that trend to change I applaud the work of this Government and of our regions in encouraging innovation and enterprise, but, at the same time, emphasise that what we need to do is to continue to offer support to maximise the potential of our workforce. We need to give people the skills that they need to thrive as individuals and to ensure that productivity in the UK grows. Since 2010, we have increased exports to China by 72%. By continuing to upskill our workforce, we will ensure not only that that figure goes up, but that our exports go up elsewhere, allowing the UK economy to continue to grow and to maintain its position as the fastest growing economy in the G7.