| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Mr. Hague: I can categorically assure the hon. Gentleman that it is not Government policy to poach companies from elsewhere in the United Kingdom and that it is not the policy of the Welsh Development Agency to do that. I would deprecate very strongly poaching from elsewhere in the United Kingdom. However, companies that are already located somewhere in the United Kingdom sometimes propose an expansion project or have definitely decided to leave their particular location, and that is a different matter. I know that that is not what the hon. Gentleman means by poaching; what I understand him to mean by that is certainly not the policy of the Government, or of the Welsh Development Agency or of the Development Board for Rural Wales.
Mr. Tom King (Bridgwater) rose--
Mr. David Harris (St. Ives) rose--
Mr. Hague: The west country Members are most welcome at this debate on Welsh matters. I give way to my right hon. Friend the Member for Bridgwater (Mr. King).
Mr. King: I do not wish further to disrupt my right hon. Friend's speech, but I should like to welcome what he has just said because a firm in my constituency relocated to Wales with the benefit of substantial grants. We recognise the excellent work being done by the Welsh Development Agency and the serious problem of unemployment in Wales, with which the Government's policy has helped so significantly. Will my right hon. Friend give an assurance, however, that he will be vigilant in ensuring that firms that have not considered going to Wales are not attracted to do so when they might otherwise continue and expand in parts of the country that contribute through their taxes to the benefits that the Welsh Development Agency is able to offer, but which, despite having their own unemployment problems, do not have any particular inducements to offer?
Mr. Hague: Of course, we want to attract as much new investment to Wales as we possibly can, but that must not be done through poaching or in a way that destroys jobs in other parts of the United Kingdom. That, of course,
would not be a proper use of taxpayers' money. I am satisfied that the Welsh Development Agency and the Development Board for Rural Wales pursue that policy as rigorously as I would intend them to, which is very rigorously. Sometimes, one or two advertisements or statements have been misinterpreted, but I will certainly give the matter every consideration and be as firm in the future as I have been in the past to make sure that we are not poaching from or destroying jobs elsewhere in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Harris: My right hon. Friend will be aware of the job losses that Cornwall has encountered in the past few weeks. Does he appreciate the anger that is felt in Cornwall when it suffers job losses, and an apparently well-documented example is given in today's Western Morning News of attempts to poach jobs and firms from Cornwall to Wales, and to south Wales in particular? Will he do what the Minister with responsibility for the south-west, our right hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon (Mr. Curry), has promised to do, which is to look into specific examples? If he finds that there have been attempts to poach, will he put an immediate end to the practice?
Mr. Hague: I am interested to hear what my hon. Friend says. If there are well-documented examples--[Interruption.] Of course it remains to be seen. I have recently read many things in newspapers that I would not describe as well documented, but if there are well-documented examples, I shall consider them.
There should not be poaching from other parts of the United Kingdom, but I say without apology that where there are new investment projects that could go to anywhere in the United Kingdom, the Welsh Development Agency and the Welsh Office will fight very hard for them to come to Wales.
Some situations are open to misinterpretation. The right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, East (Mr. Prescott)--I apologise for mentioning him in his absence, but I had not foreseen this point arising--criticised the agency for securing for Wales several hundred jobs in a company that was previously located in Hull. In fact, the company was closing in Hull anyway and was deciding whether to go to northern France or to Wales. The agency was right to fight for those jobs, but that is different from the poaching to which the hon. Member for Truro (Mr. Taylor), my right hon. Friend the Member for Bridgwater and my hon. Friend the Member for St. Ives (Mr. Harris) referred.
Mr. Rhodri Morgan (Cardiff, West):
I am sure that the Secretary of State will recall that what the deputy leader of the Labour party actually said was that the incident constituted one of the best arguments that he had ever heard for the English regions, including Yorkshire and Humberside, having regional development agencies of their own.
Mr. Hague:
We continue to receive clarification of Labour party policy. I believe that the English regional assemblies would be a different matter. I doubt that the company in question, or companies in general, would be more inclined to locate in Hull because there was a regional assembly, just as I have grave doubts that any company would be more inclined to locate in Wales because there was a Welsh Assembly.
The Bill provides that future increases of the financial limit shall be made by secondary legislation, using the affirmative resolution procedure. The advantages are clear. It will reduce the burden on future legislative programmes while retaining proper accountability to the House and an opportunity to debate the issue.
The new limit should be sufficient for several years. The increase of the limit carries no implications for spending or policy decisions in future years. Such decisions will be made in the usual way, as part of public expenditure surveys. The revised financial limit will, however, provide the flexibility needed to ensure that the agency is properly resourced to undertake its existing programme of work and to take advantage of new opportunities that may arise.
Dr. Kim Howells (Pontypridd):
The Secretary of State must know that there can be very few people in Wales who have not congratulated the WDA on its magnificent work in bringing investment into the country, but he must also be aware that many people, especially in my constituency, are deeply worried that some of the WDA's roles, such as land reclamation and urban renewal, have been completely ignored to enable it to make those magnificent achievements and attract inward investment from abroad. What will he do about tip reclamation schemes in places where we need the land very badly for indigenous industry, such as at Coedely and Cilfynydd, or for urban development, such as in Pontypridd?
Mr. Hague:
Those urban programmes are not ignored. They remain important programmes and important objectives of the agency. Inward investment has been the agency's highest priority in recent times because there has been an unusual degree of opportunity to attract inward investment--I make no apology for that--but those other programmes are not ignored, and I shall mention them later if the hon. Gentleman will allow me.
In November 1996, I announced a significant increase in the agency's base programme for the current financial year, from £120 million to £157 million. That included an increase of more than 60 per cent. in central Government provision to the agency to enable it to meet its commitments to the LG project and to fund other new inward investment projects throughout Wales.
The agency's budget for the coming year, which I announced in December, will similarly allow it to build on its existing successes and to increase its spending on strategic sites throughout Wales, to which I attach great importance. Central Government provision for the agency for next year will be £84.7 million and grant in aid is 8 per cent. above the equivalent figure for 10 years earlier in real terms. That will enable the agency to fund a base programme of £150 million in the forthcoming year.
The agency has a central role in the economic development of Wales. I should refer briefly to the functions and objectives of the agency as set out in the Welsh Development Agency Act 1975. The agency exists
Mr. Cynog Dafis (Ceredigion and Pembroke, North):
I am sure that the Secretary of State will say something later about spreading prosperity throughout Wales, but I remind him of figures released by Plaid Cymru last year which show that 80 per cent. of the jobs created by the agency have occurred and, indeed, are predicted to occur within about 10 per cent. of the Welsh land area, and that 60 per cent. of Welsh unemployed people live outside the region specified for anticipated success. Does not that require pretty fundamental reconsideration of the WDA's strategy and is such reconsideration now afoot?
"to further the economic development of Wales or any part of Wales; to promote industrial efficiency and international competitiveness"
and
"to further the improvement of the environment in Wales".
10 Feb 1997 : Column 76
There can be no disputing the excellent results that the WDA has achieved. It has played a significant part in transforming the Welsh economy in line with the Government's priorities. As a result, we have today a more diverse and well-balanced industrial structure. Our manufacturing base, at 28 per cent. of gross domestic product, is one of the most dynamic in the United Kingdom. We have attracted new high-technology industries. Manufacturing output in Wales in the past two years has grown by well over 10 per cent. Production businesses have multiplied by about 46 per cent. since 1979 and indigenous companies--of which I shall say more in a moment--are taking full advantage of the tremendous sourcing opportunity provided by inward investors.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |