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Manufacturing Industry
24. Mr. Roy Hughes: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what new measures he is taking to promote investment by British companies in domestic manufacturing industry. [18714]
Mr. Oppenheim: Low inflation, low tax rates, low interest rates and sound public finances are the best stimuli to investment. Manufacturing investment rose by
more than 6 per cent. in 1994 and 1995, and the Confederation of British Industry expects a further increase of 9 per cent. this year.
Mr. Hughes: Has the Minister noticed that our major companies are investing heavily overseas but are tending to neglect the domestic market? I do not know whether incentives are necessary, but we certainly need to invest in the domestic market to increase efficiency and to create new jobs.
Mr. Oppenheim: I very much agree with the hon. Gentleman about the importance of investment. He will no doubt be pleased to know that investment rose quite sharply last year and is forecast to do the same this year. It is rising at the fastest rate since 1988. We are an international economy, and it right in an open, global market that British companies should invest at home as well as abroad.
Conferences and Meetings
27. Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is his estimate of the United Kingdom's share of the international conference and meetings industry. [18717]
Mr. Page: The British Tourist Authority estimates that 490,000 visitors came to the United Kingdom for conferences and meetings in 1994. My Department has no estimate of the share that that figure represents of the international conference and meetings industry.
Mr. Atkinson: Does my hon. Friend agree that in that intensely and fiercely competitive world industry, this country does well, including the Bournemouth international conference centre in my constituency? What effect does he think that a 48-hour working rule and a national minimum wage would have on the competitiveness of our industry and its ability to compete successfully with the rest of the world?
Mr. Page: My hon. Friend makes a point that has been mentioned once or twice already this afternoon. The British Tourist Authority estimates that £285 million is currently spent by overseas delegates, an average of £582 per delegate. There is absolutely no doubt that the restrictions of the social contract and a minimum wage would inhibit our ability to offer conference facilities and ensure that people would not be so willing to come to the United Kingdom.
PRIVATE BUSINESS
Bodmin Moor Commons Bill [Lords] (By Order)
Order for Second Reading read.
To be read a Second time on Thursday 21 March.
3.30 pm
The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Tony Newton): On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Members will have heard with horror of what occurred in Dunblane this morning in an appalling incident that has left 16 young children and a teacher dead and many others injured. I know that the whole House would wish me to express not only our horror but our heartfelt sympathy to the families of those killed or injured and to everyone else in what is this afternoon a shocked and grieving community. That shock and grief will be shared throughout the country.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland, who is also the constituency Member, has gone to Dunblane with the hon. Member for Hamilton(Mr. Robertson), who lives there and whose children attended the school where this terrible tragedy took place.
We shall arrange for a full statement to be made to the House tomorrow. I should also tell the House that following discussions in the usual channels it has been agreed that it would not be appropriate to proceed with the meeting of the Scottish Grand Committee which was due to take place in Glasgow on Friday.
Mrs. Ann Taylor (Dewsbury):
The whole House will want to be associated with the comments of the right hon. Gentleman. May I say on behalf of the Opposition that every one of us is deeply shocked by the events at Dunblane this morning? Our genuine and heartfelt sympathy goes out to everyone who has been affected. Our first thoughts are naturally for the parents and families of the young children who have been murdered and the family of the teacher, for those who have been injured and also for all of those at the school and in the local community who have been traumatised by the events this morning.
It is a bewildering tragedy and it is entirely right that the Leader of the House should indicate that a statement will be made to the House when more of the facts are known.
Today, we in the House are united in our feelings of absolute horror at what has happened. Hon. Members, many of us parents, share the grief of those whose lives have been devastated by events in Dunblane.
Mr. Archy Kirkwood (Roxburgh and Berwickshire):
May I associate my right hon. and hon. Friends with the expressions of grief and sympathy that have been expressed by the Leader of the House to the bereaved parents, families and friends? May I also commend the Government on taking the decision quickly to cancel the meeting proposed for the Scottish Grand Committee on Friday? That was the appropriate thing to do.
Violating the sanctity of a primary 1 classroom heightens the horror of the event and prompts the question: is there really nowhere that is sacrosanct? Even a closely knit community like Dunblane will have to dig deep into its reserves of human capital to recover from that incomprehensible attack. All our thoughts are with it this afternoon.
Mr. Alex Salmond (Banff and Buchan):
May I associate myself with those sentiments and express my party's sympathy to the bereaved over an incident that defies belief and description? I support the decision to cancel the meeting of the Grand Committee as a mark of respect. I do not think that there is much appetite in Scotland right now for political debate, nor will people want to draw lessons too quickly--until we know all the facts. One thing is certain. Most of us in Scotland know the community involved well. All Scotland will show that community sympathy, support and solidarity in the next few days.
Madam Speaker:
I am most grateful to the House.I think that we should now move on until we get a statement tomorrow.
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 90(2) (Northern Ireland Grand Committee),
Mr. Neil Gerrard (Walthamstow):
I beg to move,
The purpose of my Bill is simple and straightforward: to put a duty on the Government to ensure that people who have been held as hostages abroad get support, assistance and advice from the Government when they are released. The public think that few people have been held as hostages and remember that when Terry Waite and John McCarthy--two well-known cases--returned, they were taken to RAF Lyneham and given assistance. People assume that that is the natural course of events and that it occurs in every case.
The reality is rather different. In recent years,a significant number of people have been held hostage. More than 1,200 people were held in the Gulf during the Gulf war and smaller numbers have been held in several other places since, including the two men who are being held in Kashmir. Although we may like to think that hostage taking will cease, I suspect that it will not. It has gone on for the whole of recorded history and will happen again somewhere, at some time. None us can predict where or how many people will be involved.
It is obvious that what happens to people when they are held is deeply traumatic and stressful. I do not want to speculate on cases with which I have not been personally involved, but I am sure that it is safe to say that Keith Mangan and Paul Wells, who are being held in Kashmir, will have been through some dreadful experiences and will need support and help when they are released, which I hope will be soon. In many cases, people who have been released have not had the help that they should have had.
I became involved in the issue through the case of my constituent Paul Ride. He was taken over the border between Kuwait and Iraq by an Iraqi patrol and given a seven-year sentence, supposedly for illegally entering Iraq. At the same time, a constituent of my hon. Friend the Member for Halifax (Mrs. Mahon) was held, together with several other people of various nationalities.
I think that people will be shocked to learn what happened to those men when they were released.Paul Ride was given a taxi home from Heathrow airport and that was the end of direct assistance to him. Nothing else was done to help him. Over the next year or two, he suffered family breakdown and psychiatric problems that led to him attempting suicide by setting fire to his house. The Crown Prosecution Service responded by charging him with arson. It was only after a year of waiting for the case to come to trial that it was dropped and he got the help that he needed.
Finally, I got in touch with Terry Waite, who was able, in turn, to put us in touch with Dr. Gordon Turnbull, who had done the work for the Government when Terry Waite and John McCarthy were released.
That case is not unique. Anyone who is in touch with the Gulf war human shield victims will know that many continue to suffer serious problems four or five years later. The Government are well aware of that fact. They funded research conducted by Dr. Stuart Turner which
concluded that psychiatric problems should be resolved. He found that social and financial problems might lead to psychological problems and, finally--and most importantly in the context of my Bill--he proposed co-ordinated planning in advance in order to deal with possible psychological and social problems.
When the money was provided to Dr. Turner's clinic, the Prime Minister commented in a Department of Health press release about the effect of disasters and traumatic stress on people and the severe and long-lasting problems that could result. His sentiments were echoed by the then Under-Secretary of State for Health, the present Secretary of State for Health. I do not think that anyone doubts that action is necessary. The problem is that it does not occur: people fall through the gaps between the various agencies that might be expected to provide assistance.
My Bill sets out to rectify the problem. Obviously,I accept that there are some difficulties in defining exactly who might be regarded as a "hostage". In some cases, it is very clear that people have been held illegally. In the cases of Paul Ride and Michael Wainwright, the Government helped to arrange for family members to meet the United Nations Secretary-General and ensured that they did not face legal costs in Iraq. Such action is not taken when someone has been charged with a genuine criminal offence.
I accept that we must help all people who have been incarcerated in foreign prisons, but I think that those who have been held hostage have special needs. Those needs may vary from case to case--whether it is psychiatric counselling or direct practical assistance such as temporary housing, social services assistance and so on. Someone must be responsible for ensuring that that assistance is co-ordinated and that people know where it may be obtained. We are talking about people who have been through deeply traumatising and stressful experiences: they are not in the best position to make decisions about how to help themselves or to know where they might receive assistance.
I do not ask the Government to spend vast amounts of money or to set up permanent quangos or bureaucracies that might do little for long periods. The Government established a special unit in the Foreign Office during the Gulf war, but it was concerned simply with helping to achieve the release of those who were being held as part of the human shield. No organised assistance was provided to follow up those activities. The Government also funded Dr. Stuart Turner's clinic, thereby acknowledging that a need exists.
In the past year or 18 months I have talked to those who have been held as hostages, to doctors who have been involved in treating returned hostages and to members of the Gulf support group. I have received direct support in my endeavours from both Terry Waite and John McCarthy, who believe that we must ensure that other people receive the same assistance as they did.
I simply ask the Government to accept their responsibility--their duty--to British citizens who have suffered for political reasons, who have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. That aim could be achieved without legislation, but legislation would mean that the duty exists and that something will be done.
That the Matter of the proposal for the draft Regional Strategy for health and social well-being 1997-2002, being a Matter relating exclusively to Northern Ireland, be referred to the Northern Ireland Grand Committee for its consideration.--[Dr. Liam Fox.]
3.35 pm
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to place a duty on the Secretary of State to ensure that appropriate assistance is provided to people returning to the United Kingdom, having been held against their will as hostages, and to their families; and for connected purposes.
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