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Mr. Hague: I am spoilt for choice, but I shall give way to the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Dr. Howells).
Dr. Kim Howells (Pontypridd): I agree with the Secretary of State's point about the Welsh Development Agency and the need not to rest on our laurels, but can he tell us why we lost the Chunghwa Picture Tube Company factory? Why did that factory go not to Cardiff, but to Lanarkshire? Why is it generally understood that the Welsh Development Agency was out-performed by the Lanarkshire development agency and Locate in Scotland? Will the Secretary of State inquire into the reasons for the loss of that contract and publish his final report so that we can all read it?
Mr. Hague: We will not win every project. We know that. We compete for many projects that we will not win because other people are bound to win some of them. There are many factors involved in such decisions, including the suitability of the site, the proximity to other businesses in the same industry, and development area or assisted area status. All those factors come together and the decisions are very complex.
I have inquired about the project that the hon. Member mentioned and I am well aware of the details. I do not believe that the contract was lost by Wales because of any failing in the WDA or in the work that was done on the project. Such decisions are based on complex factors, some of which I have mentioned, which sometimes bring success to Wales and sometimes bring it to other parts of the United Kingdom. I shall announce a major inward investment project tomorrow, and people in other parts of the United Kingdom and Europe will ask why they did not get the contract. This time, we will be the successful ones.
Mr. Cynog Dafis (Ceredigion and Pembroke, North):
Members of my party join others in rejoicing at the success of the Welsh economy. [Hon. Members: "Where are they?"] They are doing some very important things.
Dr. Howells:
Perhaps they are watching rugby.
Mr. Dafis:
The rugby is on Saturday and this is Thursday.
I emphasise that the kind of success that inward investment brings has not benefited the western regions of Wales--eastern areas, including Montgomeryshire and places that are close to the English border and have links
with the midlands, have benefited. Will the Secretary of State undertake to emphasise the importance of strengthening the economy of the western regions of Wales, because their weaknesses show not just in unemployment figures, but in figures for outward migration by the young? There are many deep, structural weaknesses in the economies of those regions.
Mr. Hague:
Of course it is important to try to share the benefits of inward investment. That is why we have set a target for the Welsh Development Agency for the proportion of investment to areas outside the M4 and A55 corridors. I shall reaffirm that target for the coming year--I have reaffirmed it in my discussions with the Welsh Development Agency in the past few days. I recognise the importance of what the hon. Gentleman says, but an independent Wales would do nothing like as well at attracting inward investment. He and his party should bear that in mind when they consider the subject.
Mr. Rhodri Morgan (Cardiff, West):
Before the Secretary of State leaves the subject of the Chunghwa Picture Tube Company, will he confirm whether our failure to land that project had anything to do with the cut of £30 million in his Department's budget for regional selective assistance, as revealed in the Department's report a year ago, and the £40 million cut in the budget of the Welsh Development Agency, giving altogether a cut of more than £70 million and almost halving the budget available for regional economic development in 1995-96?
Mr. Hague:
There has been no reduction on such a scale in support for regional development. The hon. Gentleman may be quoting a figure that refers to more than changes in regional selective assistance. In any case, regional selective assistance is a demand-led expenditure, so it works the other way round from the way he suggests. Provision for regional selective assistance falls or rises as the projects that are eligible for it come in or fail to come in. The change that the hon. Gentleman mentioned may be a reflection of the level of inward investment in that year, but it is not the cause of that level, as his question suggested. The hon. Gentleman will notice that I have allocated a substantial sum for regional selective assistance when we discuss the new departmental report in a few weeks' time.
No economy can succeed by inward investment alone. Indigenous firms are crucial, not least the smaller ones. Half of all manufacturing employment in Wales is in firms with fewer than 200 employees.
Firms need fast access to first-class advice and information about the public sector support available to them. That is why in January we launched business connect--covering the whole of Wales and the full range of public sector services. With one telephone call, anyone can have access to the whole network of public support.
Export promotion is a key component of Government policy. In the first trade mission programme, we covered 30 countries, resulting in £87 million-worth of new business for more than 250 Welsh businesses. I have now extended that programme for a further three years. I hope that that will allow a further 24 missions and that it will have something to offer companies of all sizes with varying degrees of export experience.
Everything in the economic future of Wales depends on the skills of the work force. Our goal is a world-class education and training system. All Welsh schools, further education colleges and higher education institutions are concentrating on lifting performance to contribute to achieving the national targets, as set out in our document "People and Prosperity".
The Welsh training and enterprise councils are supporting our activity and agreeing local skills priorities with the Welsh Development Agency, the Development Board for Rural Wales and the new unitary authorities. In line with the strategy in "People and Prosperity", I have asked the TECs to give top priority to manufacturing skills. Five hundred young people started modern apprenticeships in manufacturing in Wales in 1994-95. This year, I have allocated funding for 3,800 young people to start modern or accelerated apprenticeships, some 1,200 of them in manufacturing. We will expand modern manufacturing apprenticeships still further next year. This year, I have also allocated an extra £3 million to help local manufacturers train 1,200 adults for the next two years to give a fast injection of manufacturing skills.
The document, "A Bright Future", also published last year, set out a detailed programme to raise attainment in schools. Secondary schools are already making big strides in improving their performance. The number achieving high grade GCSEs continues to improve. One in five pupils now achieve two A-levels, whereas one in 10 did so 20 years ago. Over the past six years, the number leaving school without qualifications has dropped sharply from 17 per cent. to 11 per cent., but there is much to do to raise educational standards further and meet national targets for achievement in academic and vocational qualifications.
As a result of the bright future programme, every school in Wales is now expected to set its own targets for achievement and to beat its previous best, year by year. Successful primary schools are the vital underpinning, especially for the basic skills of literacy and numeracy. The 1995 test results show that standards at 11 are not good enough--fewer than half reached the standard expected of the majority in tests of English and maths.
Schools' targets will be reviewed as part of regular and independent inspections, and action plans following inspections will include targets for improvement. Where the targets are found to be insufficiently challenging, the inspectorate will expect schools to reconsider and set new, more challenging ones.
The development of vocational options in Wales is also an emerging success story. In Wales this year, 46 schools will be involved in the general national vocational qualifications development scheme for 14 to 16-year-olds. More than 60 per cent. of participating schools in Wales will offer manufacturing, engineering, or construction.
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