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Merchant Shipbuilding
7. Dr. Godman: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the approximate number of men and women currently employed in (a) merchant shipbuilding yards and (b) oil and gas fabrication yards; and what were the equivalent figures in 1987. [18694]
The Minister for Small Business, Industry and Energy (Mr. Richard Page): On the latest available figures--for 1993--39,900 men and 3,800 women were employed in shipbuilding, ship repair and boatbuilding, compared with 53,000 men and 4,400 women in 1987. Comparable figures between the two years for shipbuilding alone are not available.
Statistics are not collected for oil and gas fabrication yards on their own, but the Offshore Contractors Association estimates that up to 10,000 men and women are employed by such yards.
Dr. Godman:
Is the Minister in a position to estimate how many of those employees are apprentices? In the distant past when I was an apprentice shipwright, the employment ratio was one apprentice for every six tradesmen. What is the Minister's Department doing to ensure that those skills are maintained by a healthy number of apprenticeships being served by young men and women, or is it standing idly by and allowing those skills to run down?
Mr. Page:
The hon. Gentleman and I can claim some brotherhood on this matter because I also served an industrial apprenticeship. I am fully aware of the value of an apprentice education and of its value to the nation. I must point out, however, that this is a matter for the Department for Education and Employment, with which we are in communication. We want more modern apprenticeships to give that core technology and skills base and to move it forward. At the moment, I cannot give the hon. Gentleman the figures, but I can tell him that in the period about which he asked, although the number of employees decreased, efficiency in British yards increased from some 247,000 tonnes to some 288,000 tonnes, so there has been an improvement.
Mr. Batiste:
Although all of us would like more young people to obtain relevant industrial qualifications, what assessment has my hon. Friend made of the impact of the minimum wage on the recruitment and training of young people? Such a policy, as advocated by the Labour party, would be disastrous for the employment and qualification prospects of our young people.
Mr. Page:
My hon. Friend makes a valuable point. Companies are locating and investing in this country because we have the right environment and economic background in which they can develop and grow. There is no doubt whatever that a minimum wage would be disastrous for employment prospects. It is not a coincidence that unemployment is falling in the United Kingdom but rising in the European Union, where there are such restrictions. One question that I should like to ask the Labour party is: what will be the minimum wage? [Interruption.]
Madam Speaker:
Order. I think that the Minister was answering the hon. Member for Elmet (Mr. Batiste).
Rev. Martin Smyth:
Does the Minister share my concern that fewer merchant ships are flying the British flag and that a significant number of them are no longer crewed by British merchant sailors? Will he welcome the fact, as revealed in a recent periodical, that Belfast is poised to become the Aberdeen of the next decade because of its role in oil and gas exploration?
Mr. Page:
The hon. Gentleman has given me a very good lead-in, enabling me to pay tribute to the recent successes of Harland and Wolff. I hope that those successes increase, and provide many jobs in Northern Ireland. As for the question of flagging out, that is indeed up to the individual companies involved; it is not a matter for the British Government.
Mr. Ian Bruce:
Has my hon. Friend any idea of the number of new orders that have been won by British shipyards for merchant vessels, and the number of jobs involved? Has he taken action against our European partners and others in regard to the provision of state aids that have been featherbedding their shipbuilders rather than allowing the productivity of the British worker to win new orders?
Mr. Page:
There is an agreement by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to abolish any direct support schemes, which should come into effect on 15 July, assuming that Japan and the United States ratify it. If they do not, the Government and the European Union will have to re-examine the position.
There is no doubt that there is overcapacity in the world and very hard pressure on prices, but British shipping is doing quite well. In contrast, in Bremen Vulkan in Germany some 23,000 people are threatened with some form of bankruptcy, and hence with unemployment. Here in the United Kingdom, good news is coming through from Swan Hunter; Appledore continues to maintain a full order book; Kvaerner Govan has a contract worth some £61.5 million to build a vessel to support the launch of a western communications satellite by Ukrainian rockets from a sea platform--it should be exciting when that starts--and Ferguson Shipbuilders, in the hon. Gentleman's constituency, has recently won an order worth some £19.3 million to build a fisheries research vessel for the Scottish Office. There is quite good news for British shipping at the moment.
8. Mr. Home Robertson:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will discuss with the Office of Gas Supply measures to improve the security of gas supplies to domestic consumers. [18695]
Mr. Page:
I was sorry to hear of the supply failure that affected part of the hon. Gentleman's constituency during the exceptionally severe weather last December. The stringent security standards set out in the gas licences are appropriate to ensure that such events are rare.
Mr. Home Robertson:
The Minister knows that 5,000 households in my constituency had their gas supplies cut off during the Arctic weather at the end of December, with dire consequences. We still await the Ofgas report. Is the Minister aware that the compensation paid by British Gas is derisory, and that the excuses offered by TransCo--that it was very cold, and that consumers were using too much gas--are laughable? Does he accept that gas consumers have a right to expect secure gas supplies in cold weather, and that effective and binding contractual conditions must be imposed on this wholly profitable privatised utility?
Mr. Page:
I accept what the hon. Gentleman says. He has been a doughty battler on behalf of his constituents. I must point out, however, that public gas transporters are required to design their systems to meet peak demands that are likely to occur once in 20 years, and that the demands in late December were likely to occur once in 80 years.
Having said that, let me add that British Gas TransCo has offered those who were disconnected compensation of some £20 per day of disconnection. Moreover, I understand that it plans to reinforce the local system as part of an on-going work programme--some 1.25 km is involved--to ensure that the situation does not occur again.
Mr. John Greenway:
Does my hon. Friend agree that, notwithstanding the difficulty encountered by the hon. Member for East Lothian (Mr. Home Robertson) in his constituency, gas supplies generally are much more secure than electricity supplies, which are more likely to be disrupted by the kind of weather that we have seen over the past few months? Is that not the reason why more and more people would like their homes to be connected to gas, and will he ensure that British Gas continues to take every opportunity to ensure that it is available in rural areas where it is not currently available?
Mr. Page:
I can only say to my hon. Friend that the answer must be yes, we must try to ensure that the gas network expands. One of the reasons why people wish to connect to gas is that in real terms gas prices are down by some 23 per cent., excluding VAT, to domestic users and by some 46 per cent. to industry. When the south-west becomes open to free and open competition, prices to the domestic consumer will decrease by a further 15 to 20 per cent., so it is no wonder that people want to sign up for gas.
Mr. Nigel Griffiths:
Will the Minister investigate the Gas Consumers Council's complaints that elderly people have been left without heating because the gas company puts a 30-minute limit on the time that it allows for fault repairs? What kind of Government would introduce legislation such as the Gas Act 1995 which permits a company to act in such an indefensible way?
Mr. Page:
Once again, the hon. Gentleman is saying things that are not completely accurate. It is nothing to do with the Gas Act. When there was a disconnection in the constituency of the hon. Member for East Lothian (Mr. Home Robertson), British Gas provided heaters for people who were most vulnerable.
9. Mr. Dunn:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the value of exported manufactured goods for the year 1994-95; and if he will make a statement. [18696]
Mr. Lang:
In 1995, the value of exported manufactured goods was £127.5 billion, a substantial increase over the figure for 1994.
Mr. Dunn:
In congratulating all the people in industry who are responsible for such an outstanding result, does my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade agree that nothing could be more destructive of the United Kingdom's export success than the introduction of the social chapter and of the minimum wage, and the implementation of some of the European Court's dafter decisions?
Mr. Lang:
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The improved productivity of manufacturing industry has been the secret of so much of our success and of the growth in employment, output and exports in that sector. That productivity growth of 80 per cent. since the Government came to office would be severely undermined if we accepted either the social chapter or a national minimum wage.
Mrs. Clwyd:
Does the calculation of value include possible losses under the export credits guarantee system? The President of the Board of Trade will recall that his Department lost £652 million of taxpayers' money in exporting so-called non-lethal equipment to Iraq--or has he refined his policies since then?
Mr. Lang:
According to my recollection, the hon. Lady's figures in relation to defence equipment are wrong by a substantial margin, but I will of course check them. I hope that she realises that the purpose of the Export Credits Guarantee Department is to provide the insurance cover that our exporters need. It is matched by comparable schemes in other countries. Without it, it would be impossible for many companies to break into export markets and to achieve those remarkable and record export figures.
Mr. Sykes:
Following my hon. Friend the Member for Dartford (Mr. Dunn), is my right hon. Friend aware that the French Government recently had to export a large contract to Pindars in my constituency of Scarborough because French companies cannot compete with companies in Britain? Is that not because we do not have the social chapter, the minimum wage and the 48-hour week?
Mr. Lang:
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He will welcome, as I do, the fact that since 1981 the United Kingdom's volume of exports has risen faster than that of Germany, Italy or France, to which he refers.
Mrs. Beckett:
Why does the Secretary of State agree with his hon. Friends when he must be aware that despite exporting success, which we all welcome, the level of imports of manufactured goods into this country is even higher and we have a net deficit of £8 billion? Many of the countries which export more successfully to us than we do to them are signatories of the social chapter and have national minimum wage type provision. Manufacturers argue that that substantial net deficit is due to the fact that we have too few world-class manufacturing companies, too few skilled workers for them to hire, and too little research and development and long-term investment. Why do Ministers not listen for once to manufacturers and to Labour Members and introduce the measures, such as investment allowances, that they urge on the Government to help solve those problems?
Mr. Lang:
We do not need lessons in this matter from the Labour party. From 1974 to 1979, the Labour Government's last period of office, we had the slowest growth in manufacturing productivity and the slowest growth in output of any country in the European Union. Through the period of office of this Government, there has been the highest growth in both productivity and
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