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Deregulation
6. Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to accelerate the deregulatory process, with special reference to small businesses in Scotland. [5200]
Mr. Kynoch: The Scottish Office is playing its full part in the deregulation initiative and is particularly alert to the concerns of small firms.
Mr. Steen: As the Secretary of State has not referred one regulation to the Deregulation Committee to deregulate, and as his commitment to deregulation and his support for keeping enforcement of European directives from Europe to the minimum are well known, will he say something about how we can reduce the burdens on small businesses so that they can become more effective and do not have to bear the burdens of officialdom?
Mr. Kynoch: My hon. Friend is aware that Conservatives are totally committed to deregulation; the Deregulation Committee has been bombarded with proposals and the Scottish Office has a number of proposals in the queue waiting to go to the Committee. I can assure my hon. Friend that my officials are well aware of the need not to hassle small businesses--the life-blood of this country. If my hon. Friend has any concrete evidence of firms being hassled, he should give it to me.
Mr. Foulkes: The Minister will be aware that many small businesses are in rural areas and he will know from the rural White Paper published last week that, in one decade, employment in Cumnock and Doon valley fell by 27 per cent.--the largest fall in a rural area in Scotland. Is it not crazy to cut the grant to Scottish Enterprise by £33 million and reduce the help to those small businesses in rural areas? Is it not equally crazy for the Secretary of State to cut capital consents to local authorities and restrict their capital borrowing, thus ensuring that some of the money that was to come from the European Community will no longer be forthcoming? My constituents who are unemployed will not have a happy Christmas.
Mr. Kynoch: The hon. Gentleman is aware that unemployment is falling significantly across Scotland. The hon. Gentleman does not recognise that the Government are committed to ensuring that taxpayers' funds are used wisely and sensibly. The board of Scottish Enterprise has assured us that, with its reduced budget, it can maintain and even improve output. The hon. Gentleman does not recognise that an important industry in rural areas such as ours is tourism, which employs about 8 per cent. of Scotland's work force. There has been a 20 per cent. increase in the budget to the Scottish tourist board--I hope that the hon. Gentleman will recognise that that is good news for tourism and rural economies.
Tourism Revenues
7. Mr. Merchant: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the total tourism revenues in Scotland. [5201]
Mr. Michael Forsyth: Some £2.1 billion in 1994, and we expect 1995 to be even better.
Mr. Merchant: I welcome my right hon. Friend's increased provision--to more than £18 million next year--to the Scottish tourist board. Will he confirm that that represents an increase of 20 per cent. over previous plans thanks to the reordering of priorities at Scottish Enterprise? Does he agree that that increase reflects the high priority that the Government give to the tourist industry in energising the Scottish economy?
Mr. Forsyth: I agree with my hon. Friend. The difference between Conservatives and hon. Members such as the hon. Member for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (Mr. Foulkes) is that Conservative Members do not believe that organisations such as Scottish Enterprise exist for their own account. If organisations such as Scottish Enterprise are able to deliver their targets within reduced budgets and we deploy the money to help tourism, which is what we have done, that is a good deal for the taxpayer and represents the right way to use scarce resources to encourage the wealth-creating sector. Tourism has a vital role to play in rural Scotland and throughout Scotland, and I congratulate the Scottish tourist board on its magnificent work in increasing the numbers of people coming to Scotland. There is still great scope for improvement, and that is why, in a difficult public expenditure round, we were able to increase its budget by no less than 20 per cent.
Mr. Donohoe: The Secretary of State, in giving us that information, will know of the shambles that has resulted from the lack of funding for the celebrations next year of the bicentenary of the death of Burns. There is a severe lack of sponsorship from the private sector. In those circumstances, will he give a commitment to funding the celebrations directly from the Scottish Office to make up for the losses that are being incurred?
Mr. Forsyth: I cannot give that commitment, but I can tell the House that we propose to have celebrations of the bard's life, in both London and Scotland. On 31 January, we shall be holding a large function in London, to which a number of Opposition Members will receive invitations, to celebrate the life and works of Rabbie Burns. It is also our intention to mark the passing of Robert Burns's life with an event in Scotland, and it is appropriate that that should take place in the south-west of Scotland.
Mr. Forsyth: I can hear my right hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries (Sir H. Monro) saying, "Hear, hear." I am sure that the hon. Member for Cunninghame, South (Mr. Donohoe) will welcome that information also.
Mrs. Ewing: The Secretary of State will recognise that tourism is an all-year industry, and that winter tourism plays an important part in the livelihoods of people in rural areas. I pay tribute to the Secretary of State's work in establishing the Scottish avalanche information service. Does he accept that there is now some concern about the future of that organisation? Can we expect an early report
from the review group, because considered action will be needed to ensure that we continue and expand that important aspect of our tourist industry?
Mr. Forsyth: I agree with the hon. Lady. I established that avalanche warning service myself.
Mr. Canavan: It did not work last night.
Mr. Forsyth: This is a serious subject and people's lives are at risk.
I established the service on the recommendation of the distinguished mountaineer, Hamish McInnes. I was aware that there was a question mark over the service, and I gave instructions that the service should continue to be supported. We have given the service an extra £6,000, and we have commissioned a study, costing about £5,000, to consider the scope for expanding the service. I hope that one of the issues that will be addressed is whether we could cover a wider area using telemetric equipment.
I thought that some of the press reports were very unfair. The Government have every intention, as long as I am Secretary of State, of ensuring that the service is encouraged and expanded as far as is practically possible. However, we must ensure that money is spent wisely and that resources are used effectively, so that we get the best benefit out of the service.
I am grateful to the hon. Lady for giving me an opportunity to make that statement.
Rev. Martin Smyth:
I take this opportunity to wish the Secretary of State and all Scots Members a braw hogmanay. Has the Secretary of State taken into consideration the interest in tourism in Northern Ireland, following the visit by the President of the United States, and will he urge the Scottish tourist board to use the Scottish-Irish connection to build up the tourist routes and encourage the growth of overseas visitors?
Mr. Forsyth:
I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his greetings for the new year. I wish him a happy Christmas and a happy new year, and you, too, Madam Speaker.
On the hon. Gentleman's point about tourism and Ulster, we Unionists must stick together on that and other matters. There is scope for encouraging tourism, and I am in discussion with the Scottish tourist board and others to improve the links between Ulster and Scotland. That will enable us to develop packages and tourism opportunities, and I shall raise the prospects for co-operation with my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the light of the hon. Gentleman's helpful suggestion.
8. Mr. Kirkwood:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he expects to be able to authorise new capital spending under section 94 consents for local authorities for the financial year 1996-97; and if he will make a statement. [5202]
Mr. Kynoch:
In February or March 1996.
Mr. Kirkwood:
Will not the announcement on capital expenditure in November, which restricts the amount which local authorities can spend through capital receipts on capital expenditure in 1996-97, and
Mr. Kynoch:
The hon. Gentleman refers to the capital allowances. He must accept that, at present, capital expenditure by local authorities in Scotland is running significantly higher than elsewhere--it is 77 per cent. higher overall than in England. It is therefore only right and proper that we should try to cut the borrowing costs which divert funds from front-line services. That is why the constraints have been put in place.
When the hon. Gentleman came to see me with the right hon. Member for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale (Sir D. Steel), we talked about specific projects in his constituency. We also spoke about the opportunity to use the private finance initiative. I hope very much that local authorities will fully explore that possibility, because they could bring forward projects sooner than would be possible if the authorities used purely public funds. They may well find that they get those projects significantly cheaper by using private expertise.
Mr. Stewart:
Will my hon. Friend say something about Government policy towards smallish local authorities which may have major capital projects to finance? I have no doubt that my hon. Friend has the Eaglesham bypass particularly in mind. I am grateful to the Minister of State for meeting a delegation on that recently. Can my hon. Friend say how those projects fit into the allocation process?
Mr. Kynoch:
My hon. Friend will be aware of the challenge funding arrangement, which will be maintained. Some road and transport spending may be settled by those means, and I am sure that that arrangement will be considered for the particular bypass that my hon. Friend mentioned.
Mr. Michael J. Martin:
The Minister may know that his colleague, the hon. Member for Aberdeen, South (Mr. Robertson), visited my constituency recently to look at multi-storey flats. He will no doubt agree that it is important that more and more of such flats, which are not the worst place in the world to live, should have concierge systems. The local authority has tried its utmost to offer to as many multi-storey flats as possible the security of concierge systems. Will the Government release funds to allow local authorities to install such systems, which offer safety particularly to the elderly living in such flats?
Mr. Kynoch:
I congratulate the hon. Gentleman's local authority on the work that it has done on security. He will be aware that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has already announced increased funding for closed circuit television, and that local authorities have greater flexibility on how they spend their capital allocations.
Mr. McAllion:
Does the Minister not understand that, by forcing councils to use 25 per cent. of their capital receipts next year and 50 per cent. of them in the following year to repay outstanding capital debts, he is effectively cutting public investment in Scottish housing over those two years by at least £300 million, as well as depriving the already depressed construction industry in Scotland of £300 million-worth of business? How in God's name can that make any sense when there are still tens of thousands of Scots homeless and on the streets, and when the Government's own national housing conditions survey revealed that Scottish housing is riddled with damp and condensation and is in disrepair, which is an utter national disgrace? Why does not the Government give the people of Scotland and Britain the only Christmas present they want from the Government--a general election in the new year? That will give people the opportunity to cast the Government into the political oblivion that they justly deserve.
Mr. Kynoch:
I look forward to whenever the general election campaign begins, because I shall be able to ensure that the people of Scotland are aware of the reckless spending that the Labour party would introduce in the country. The Opposition must accept the fact that, since 1987, local authority housing debt has risen by almost £1 billion to £3.938 billion--an increase of nearly 20 per cent. If the hon. Gentleman were to encourage stock transfers, he would get receipts. He must accept that the cost of borrowing is significant and that it is diverting taxpayers' money into funding debt rather than it being used to deliver services.
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