House of Commons Hansard Debates for 7 Dec 1988

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date, the Moss Side and Hulme (Manchester), Preston and Rochdale task forces have supported 141 projects which, among other things, have helped to create or safeguard 214 jobs and 1,315 training places.

All three have established development funds in co-operation with private sector institutions to help the start-up or strengthening of small businesses. They have sought to improve residents' employability by, for example, sponsoring courses in English as a second language, with particular reference to job-seeking skills. Training courses in skills relevant to industries such as textile and knitting, construction, computing and the banking and finance sectors have also been established.

Takeovers

19. Mr. Tim Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what was the value of takeovers by overseas companies in the United Kingdom for the latest convenient period ; and what was the corresponding figure for overseas takeovers by United Kingdom companies.

Mr. Maude : The value of cross-border acquisition and mergers by overseas companies in the United Kingdom in the 12 months to September 1988 was £5.8 billion. The corresponding figure for cross-border acquisitions and mergers by United Kingdom companies was £11.7 billion.

25. Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he next plans to meet the chairman of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission to discuss takeover policy.

Mr. Maude : I have no plans at present to meet the chairman of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission to discuss merger policy. The chairman of the Commission meets my right hon. and noble Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and myself from time to time to discuss matters relevant to the work of the commission.

29. Mr. Butterfill : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what action he is taking to ensure a level playing field for takeover bids within the European Economic Community.

Mr. Maude : The Government raised the issue of barriers to takeovers in Europe at the Internal Market Council on 18 November.

60. Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what is the current level of company spending on takeovers.

Mr. Maude : In the 12 months to September 1988 United Kingdom industrial and commercial companies' expenditure on acquisitions of United Kingdom companies was about £20 billion and their expenditure on acquisitions of overseas companies was about £6 billion. Further information is published in Business Monitor MQ7 "Acquisitions and mergers by industrial and commercial companies".

EC (Trade Balance)

21. Mr. Ron Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what he expects the impact of 1992 to be on the trade balance with other European Economic Community countries.

Mr. Alan Clark : The single European market will create opportunities for increased trade with the European

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Community as the barriers are removed. Realising the potential gains to the economy, including improved competitiveness against third countries, will depend on the flexibility of United Kingdom firms in responding to the new opportunities and challenges. 33. Mr. McAvoy To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what he expects the impact of 1992 to be on the trade balance with other European Economic Community countries.

Mr. Alan Clark : The single European market will create opportunities for increased trade with the European Community as the barriers are removed. Realising the potential gains to the economy, including improved competitiveness against third countries, will depend on the flexibility of United Kingdom firms in responding to the new opportunities and challenges.

Information Technology (Research)

22. Mr. Ian Bruce : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what he is doing to encourage collaboration between universities and industry in the field of information technology research.

Mr. Forth : The Alvey programme successfully brings together industry and universities in collaborative IT research, and will continue until 1991-92. Support for collaboration between industry and universities will continue through further national and European IT research programmes, particularly Esprit and our new advanced technology programme, launched by my predecessor in July 1988, to which there has already been a most encouraging response.

Civil Research and Development

23. Mr. Eadie : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the level of expenditure by British industry on civil research and development.

Mr. Forth : Expenditure by United Kingdom industry on industrial research and development amounted to about 1 per cent. of GDP in 1986, just slightly above the proportion for 1985. The economic climate established by Her Majesty's Government should encourage United Kingdom industry to raise its level of R and D expenditure further.

Competitiveness

24. Mr. Meale : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster which measures of competitiveness have shown an improvement since 1979 ; and which have shown a deterioration.

Mr. Newton : The two main measures of international competitiveness are relative unit labour costs and share of world trade. Compared with our major competitors United Kingdom relative unit labour costs for manufactured goods fell by 5.8 per cent. between 1979 and 1987. Our share of the volume of world trade in manufactures has been broadly stable since 1981, after many years of decline. The signs are that our non-price competitiveness, which covers factors such as quality, reliability and after-sales service has also improved.

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Departmental Official History

26. Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will commission Sir Brian Hayes to write the official history of his Department for the period 1985 to 1986.

Mr. Newton : "Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax", a history of the Department published in 1986, covered the period from 1786 to 1986. A copy was placed in the Library.

CBI

27. Mr. Oppenheim : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he last met the Confederation of British Industry ; and what matters were discussed.

Mr. Newton : I last met the CBI on 24 November when I spoke at its conference "Business Opportunities in Urban Regeneration".

Company Headquarters

28. Ms. Mowlam : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many of the headquarters of Britain's top 100 companies are outside the south-east ; and if he will give comparable figures for 10 and 20 years ago.

Mr. Atkins : I regret that this information is not available.

EC (Trade Deficit)

30. Mr. John Garrett : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster with which European Economic Community countries Britain is running a trade deficit.

Mr. Alan Clark : In the 12 months to October the United Kingdom had deficits on visible trade with Belgium/Luxembourg, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal.

EC (Research and Development)

31. Mr. Worthington : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the future of the European Community framework programme of research and development.

Mr. Forth : There has been welcome progress in implementing specific research programmes within the current framework programme. The Commission is itself conducting a review and is expected to put forward its own ideas for the future of Community research next year. At this stage it is not possible to anticipate what its conclusions may be. The United Kingdom will play an active part in the subsequent discussions. We shall, however, insist that any proposals for revision of existing Community research activity must be fully justified.

Barlow Clowes

32. Mr. Sedgemore : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he last met representatives of Barlow Clowes investors.

65. Mr. Dunnachie : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he last met representatives of the Barlow Clowes investors.

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Mr. Maude : I met representatives of the Barlow Clowes Investors Group on 24 November.

58. Mr. Bellingham : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a further statement on the Barlow Clowes affair.

Mr. Maude : Copies of Sir Godfray Le Quesne's report were passed to a number of regulatory and professional bodies. Action being taken by the Securities and Investments Board and the Financial Intermediaries, Managers and Brokers Regulatory Association was set out in my answer of 10 November at column 261. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has set up a team to examine the work of the auditors involved in the case, which has been asked to report by the end of the year.

I understand that the joint liquidators of Barlow Clowes International and Barlow Clowes Gilt Managers continue to make progress on recovery of investors' funds and towards distribution of recovered funds, as described by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in his statement on 20 October.

Contract Industrial Research

34. Dr. Bray : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what estimates he has made of the growth of the contract industrial research market in the United Kingdom and worldwide.

Mr. Forth : Figures published in the 1988 annual review of Government-funded research and development show a rising trend of expenditure on extramural contract research and development by United Kingdom industry. In 1985 the figure was £332 million rising from £464 million in 1986. Independent forecasts suggest that this trend is likely to continue and that contract research and development expenditure is growing faster than intramural expenditure, the latter growing appoximately in line with GDP. There are no published worldwide figures.

Action for Cities Campaign

35. Dr. Twinn : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how the private sector is responding to his Department's action for cities campaign ; and how he plans to increase its involvement.

Mr. Newton : The private sector response has been excellent. Our series of seven breakfast presentations, completed in the east midlands on 6 December, has already led to over 300 offers of help or expressions of interest in urban regeneration from local business people. Chambers of commerce are becoming increasingly involved in planning the renewal of their cities. At national level the CBI, Business in the Community and Phoenix have joined in a forum to promote and assist the development of local business leadership. Above all, the growth of activity and investment in inner cities shows that the private sector is taking the business opportunities which action for cities is helping to generate.

The £3,000 million that the Government are spending on inner cities this year will do much to encourage more businesses to become involved in the inner cities. We shall also continue to make clear the commercial benefits of doing business in inner cities.

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Merger Policy

36. Mr. Hoyle : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he has any plans to meet Sir Gordon Borrie, Director General of Fair Trading to discuss merger policy.

Mr. Maude : I have no plans at present to meet Sir Gordon Borrie to discuss merger policy. Sir Gordon meets my right hon. and noble Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, and myself from time to time to discuss matters of mutual interest including mergers policy.

Manufacturing Industry (Output)

37. Mr. Pike : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what are the figures in constant value of the output in manufacturing industries in the north-west (a) in 1979 and (b) at the latest date for which figures are available.

Mr. Maude : Gross value added, at constant (1980) prices, for manufacturing industry in the north-west is estimated to have been £9,171 million and £7,453 million in 1979 and 1986 repectively.

43. Mr. Watts : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what are the latest figures for the output of manufacturing industry ; and what was the comparable figure one year ago.

Mr. Maude : In the third quarter of 1988 manufacturing output was at a level of 115.8, based on 1985 equal to 100. This is 7 per cent. higher than the level of 108.3 for third quarter of 1987. Manufacturing output is at its highest ever level.

56. Mr. Ernie Ross : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what is his forecast for the growth of manufacturing output in 1988.

Mr. Maude : In his Autumn Statement, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer forecast that manufacturing output would be 7 per cent. higher in 1988 than in 1987.

Single Market

38. Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if any attempt has been made to monitor the effectiveness of the advertising campaign of 1992 and the completion of the single market.

51. Mr. Andy Stewart : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what monitoring he has undertaken of the level of awareness among business men of the single European market achieved by his Department's Europe Open for Business campaign.

Mr. Maude : DTI has a substantial evaluation exercise to monitor the effectiveness of the campaign and the level of business response. This includes a detailed survey of 100 different companies each week.

59. Mrs. Gillian Shephard : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what response there has been to his Department's Europe Open for Business campaign.

Mr. Maude : The response has been enormous. DTI has received more than 160,000 requests for information since

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March, including over 105,000 calls to our 1992 hotline. DTI Ministers and officials are speaking at some 500 conferences and seminars on the single market in the second half of this year.

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what response has been made by firms in (a) south Yorkshire and (b) the Doncaster area to the campaign on the single European market ; what particular action has been taken by his Department to bring this awareness to firms in south Yorkshire so that this area benefits equally as other parts of Britain ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Maude : Since DTI's Europe Open for Business campaign opened in March, we have recorded more than 2,220 individual inquiries from the south Yorkshire area, including 345 from Doncaster. More than 200 senior business representatives attended DTI's regional conference held in Sheffield on 15 November.

DTI's regional office is active throughout the Yorkshire and Humberside region in arranging and supporting conferences and seminars. Staff from the regional office have been involved in 16 such events in south Yorkshire since 1 September.

British Coal (Accounts)

39. Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will use his powers under section 11 of the Competition Act 1980 to order an independent investigation by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission of British Coal's accounts with special reference to payments for coalmining subsidence.

Mr. Maude : The Monopolies and Mergers Commission has recently completed an inquiry under section 11 of the Competition Act 1980 into British Coal's investment programme. I also understand that the recommendations of the Waddilove committee which examined the corporation's subsidence compensation arrangements are still being followed through. I therefore see no present case for a further section II inquiry.

EC (Anti-dumping Powers)

40. Mr. Teddy Taylor : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the recent decisions of the European Economic Community to impose levies under its anti-dumping powers ; and what representations he has received from United Kingdom firms on the issue.

Mr. Alan Clark : Since 1 April 1988, six investigations by the European Commission into the alleged injury to Community producers caused by the dumping of goods in the Community have been formally closed with the imposition of definitive anti-dumping duties. Provisional anti-dumping duties have been imposed by the Commission in a further six investigations in the same period.

Ministers receive representations from time to time both from firms supporting dumping complaints and from those likely to be affected by anti- dumping duties on goods they import.

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USSR

41. Mr. Chapman : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will give the latest annual figures of the value of exports to and imports from the USSR.

Mr. Alan Clark : For the 12 months ended December 1987 exports to the USSR were £491.6 million and imports £875.4 million.

Interest Rates

42. Mr. Turner : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what is the estimated cost to industry of the rise in interest rates since 9 May.

Mr. Newton : Bank base rates fell from 8 per cent. to 7 per cent. on 18 May and have since risen in stages. The cost to industrial and commercial companies to date compared with the cost if base rates had remained at 8 per cent. since 9 May is estimated at about £700 million. The hon. Member should bear in mind that a 1 per cent. interest rate increase, even if sustained for a full year, costs industrial and commercial companies far less than a one percentage point increase in pay settlements.

Takeovers and Mergers

44. Mr. Rooker : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he has any proposals to change the criteria upon which takeover bids and mergers are referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.

Mr. Maude : No. As recently as March this year we published the results of a thorough review of mergers policy and we have no plans for a further review. We concluded that the potential effect on competition should remain the chief criterion for referring mergers and proposed mergers to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.

Hotol

45. Mr. Wood : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what discussions he has had with the aerospace industry about Hotol.

Mr. Atkins : My Department has continuing contacts with industry on this issue.

Japanese Liquor Tax System

46. Mrs. Ewing : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on progress being made towards the reform of the Japanese liquor tax system as it affects the Scotch whisky industry.

Mr. Alan Clark : The intentions of the Japanese authorities to introduce a single rate of tax for all whiskies is well on course for implementation on 1 April 1989.

Staff Dispersal

47. Mr. Cyril D. Townsend : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what is his Department's policy on dispersing staff to the regions ; and what proportion of his staff now work outside London.

Mr. Newton : The Government's policy is that Civil Service work should be located where it can be done most

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cost-effectively and provide the best service to the public. The Government's urban and regional policies are taken into account at an early stage when considering each possible relocation, in consultation with territorial departments and my Department's regional offices.

The Department has some 12,550 staff in post and about half of them will be working outside central London when the laboratory of the Government chemist completes the move to Teddington which is currently in hand.

We have taken decisions on moving about a thousand more jobs out of central London. We are also carrying out a thorough review to assess the extent to which other units of the Department may operate more cost-effectively out of London.

Monopolies and Mergers Commission

48. Mr. Wallace : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he last met the chairman of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission ; and what subjects were discussed.

Mr. Maude : My right hon. and noble Friend the Secretary of State and I met the chairman of the commission in the course of the year and have discussed matters relevant to the work of the commission.

Miss Widdecombe : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what action he will take to stop companies who make bids which are referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission buying further shares in the market.

Mr. Maude : My right hon. and noble Friend has already made clear that in future cases, where mergers are referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and in the past he would have sought undertakings regarding further share purchases, voting or other matters, he proposes to safeguard the conduct of the inquiry by making an appropriate order to come into effect when the reference is announced.

However, this entails making a new order on each occasion. As the prohibition on further purchases of shares by the bidder is to apply in all appropriate cases, it is proposed to put the prohibition on a permanent footing. It is therefore our intention to include such a prohibition among the provisions relating to mergers in the forthcoming companies legislation.

Steel Industry

49. Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he next expects to meet the Trades Union Congress to discuss the future of the British steel industry ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Atkins : I have no plans at present for such a meeting.

Latin America and the Caribbean

50. Miss Lestor : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what steps he has recently taken to promote trade between the United Kingdom and Latin America and the Caribbean ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Alan Clark : We should like to see a substantial increase of trade with the region and my Department's full range of export services is available to help United Kingdom companies to export there. In the past 12

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months we have supported 23 outward trade missions to, three inward trade missions from and seven exhibitions in, the area. We also give financial support to the Latin American trade advisory group and the Caribbean trade advisory group, which are two of the Department's area advisory groups and do valuable work in promoting United Kingdom exports to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Small Businesses

52. Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many new small businesses have started up in each of the past five years ; how many people they employ in (a) Ealing and (b) in total ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Atkins : The latest available estimates provided by the Department of Employment in respect of the numbers of new businesses first registered for VAT are :


Year           |United Kingdom|Ealing                       

------------------------------------------------------------

1983           |180,000       |929                          

1984           |182,000       |1,090                        

1985           |182,000       |1,057                        

1986           |191,000       |1,131                        

1987           |205,000       |1,311

Although most of the new businesses are likely to be small the numbers of people they employ is not recorded. Over the period the total numbers of businesses registered in the United Kingdom increased by 11 per cent., while for those registered in Ealing the increase was 38 per cent.

Consumer Protection

53. Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he has any plans for seeking to extend consumer protection.

Mr. Forth : Part III of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 comes into force on 1 March 1989 making it an offence to give misleading price indications. We shall be making regulations under part III governing price indications at bureaux de change and the resale of electricity and gas by landlords. An order will be introduced under the Prices Act 1974 to implement EC directives on unit pricing and price marking of food and non- food products.

We plan to amend the law on the sale and supply of goods following the Law Commission's report and to amend the Consumer Credit Act and related legislation as detailed in the recent White Paper "Releasing Enterprise" (Cm 512). We shall also introduce revised regulations on pyramid selling.

In the field of consumer safety, we shall soon be introducing regulations with strict requirements for domestic gas cookers. Regulations on toy safety are being prepared to implement and EC directive. Safety standards for a wide range of consumer products are being updated for the purposes of the general safety requirement in the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

Car Market

54. Mr. Galloway : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what has been the change in the United Kingdom share of the British car market so far in 1988.

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