| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Regional Selective Assistance
14. Mr. Fallon: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if her Department's responsibility for co-ordinating regional selective assistance will be shared with regional development agencies. [5217]
Mrs. Roche: The Government's proposals on the role of the regional development agencies in relation to regional selective assistance will be considered during the current consultation process and set out in the White Paper to be published at the end of the summer.
Mr. Fallon: Will the Minister clear up the confusion over responsibility for regional assistance? Is she aware that, on Tuesday, the Prime Minister was unable to confirm whether the prime responsibility for regional aid lay with the hon. Lady's Department or with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions? Would it not be extremely damaging if the new regional development quangos were allowed to outbid each other, with public money, for inward investment?
Mrs. Roche: Let me sort out the confusion which is clearly only in the hon. Gentleman's mind, as in fact there is no confusion whatsoever. It is something of a cheek for him to talk about quangos, when the Conservative Government, from which he had a brief five-year absence, introduced record numbers of quangos in a wholly undemocratic way.
The responsibility for the important area of regional selective assistance lies with the Department of Trade and Industry, because that Department is the interface between the business community and Government.
Mr. Gunnell:
Will my hon. Friend confirm that regional selective assistance is, as she implied, often an important factor in investment? In her consultations with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions about the setting up of regional development agencies, did she discuss the role of the Invest in Britain Bureau and the agencies in inward investment?
Mrs. Roche:
My hon. Friend makes an extremely important point. Regional selective assistance, inward investment and the work of the Invest in Britain Bureau are all important. We very much welcome inward investment. The consultation process has involved the Confederation of British Industry, at regional level, and the chambers of commerce--and the interesting point that came out of the process was their enthusiasm for our proposals. The prospect of local partners coming together to promote regional economies has been very much welcomed.
Mr. Maclean:
During the past few minutes the hon. Lady has rightly championed the Rural Development Commission. Will she now assure the House that she will not allow the new regional development agencies to subsume the role of the Rural Development Commission?
Mrs. Roche:
I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman will want to know that representatives of the Rural Development Commission were present at the launch of the consultation process on the regional development agencies. Indeed, the RDC made a valuable impact, and it has been consulted fully on the process.
17. Kali Mountford:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will make a statement on her policy on inward investment. [5220]
Mr. Ian McCartney:
The Government welcome inward investment. It is important not only for the jobs that it brings to the United Kingdom but for the benefit that it brings to local economies.
The Department's Invest in Britain Bureau will continue to promote the United Kingdom for mobile international investment to ensure that we are the No. 1 location in Europe for investment from countries such as Japan, the United States and Korea.
Kali Mountford:
I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. Is he aware that, when I was consulting small business in my Colne Valley constituency, I found that three quarters of small businesses had closed due to lack of investment? The lack of investment in large businesses has had a huge knock-on effect in Colne Valley. Will my hon. Friend assure me that the measures taken will improve the general trading conditions for small businesses in areas such as mine?
Mr. McCartney:
I thank my hon. Friend for her remarks. After yesterday's Budget--a Budget for business
Mr. Spring:
Why does the hon. Gentleman think that the United Kingdom has attracted by far the lion's share of European Union inward investment?
Mr. McCartney:
Under this Government, we will improve on the previous Government's abysmal record--not only on inward investment but on investment in training and in infrastructure. At the end of our first five years in office, we will be able to look back with pride on what we have done to develop the United Kingdom. Conservative Members cannot do the same.
18. Mr. Cohen:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will make a statement in respect of her policy towards the May day public holiday. [5221]
Mr. Nigel Griffiths:
I should tell the House that I have received suggestions for a name change--to Landslide day, to Victory day or even to Demolition day. As we have no wish to be triumphalist, however, we will keep it as May day.
Mr. Cohen:
May I tell my hon. Friend that--because the previous Government seriously threatened to abolish it--I am delighted that he has agreed to save May day as a bank holiday? As there will be many more people in work under this Labour Government, would it not be right to celebrate May day as Workers Away day?
Mr. Griffiths:
Of course May day has very deep roots as a spring festival. The early May day bank holiday is valued by many sections of our community.
Sir Sydney Chapman:
Putting aside the hint of political ideology behind the question, in all fairness is there not a case for moving the relatively recently introduced May day bank holiday to another part of the calendar, to even out the numbers? Does the Secretary of State agree that it might be better to have the holiday on the Monday, or perhaps Friday, nearest Trafalgar day, for example, or a celebration closer to my own heart--All Saints' day?
Mr. Griffiths:
As the hon. Gentleman has mentioned Trafalgar, I should tell him that one of the first changes that I made after taking over my office was to hang on the wall behind my desk a large original painting of the 1836 Waterloo banquet. Hanging that painting contrasts with a decision of his former colleague at the Department of Trade and Industry, who decided to hang several thousand pounds-worth of new drape curtains. As for the hon. Gentleman's initial question, the business community was strongly against such a suggestion.
19. Gillian Merron:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans she has to consult industry about improving the competitiveness of British companies. [5222]
Mrs. Beckett:
Competitiveness must be improved by a partnership between government and business. Therefore, in addition to current discussions, I am establishing a competitiveness advisory group which will be drawn mainly from the business community. That group and working parties will help me to develop policies for a new White Paper on competitiveness, which we hope will be published in early 1998.
Gillian Merron:
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on taking very forward-looking and positive action, which will further enhance the success of companies such as European Gas Turbines, which is in my constituency of Lincoln. That company's success has been built on its ability to embrace change and partnership. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the consultation has been welcomed by business as genuine consultation--which commenced when Labour was in opposition and is now proving that this Government are truly the Government of business?
Mrs. Beckett:
I thank my hon. Friend. Like her, I welcome the success of European Gas Turbines, which has recently won two Queen's awards--one for exports and one for environmentally friendly technology. As she is well aware, the company has turned around its prospects in recent years and is showing increasing success. We are very appreciative of the support and interest shown by the business community in taking forward this work and believe that it is the kind of partnership that has turned that company around that can turn the country around.
Mr. Forth:
Before the right hon. Lady proceeds any further with her consideration of competition and competitiveness policies, will she please sort out the confusion caused in the House this afternoon by utterly contradictory statements on the important issue of possible shareholdings held by her ministerial team, which might be in direct conflict with their responsibilities for the conduct of competition policy?
Mrs. Beckett:
I have no idea why the Opposition are continuing to flog this matter. Such matters are to be handled and supervised according to the Nolan procedures, and I know that that process is taking place. The right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) asked a string of questions on precisely how far that process has been taken, but I have to say, quite bluntly, that what all this questioning, pressure and concern tell me is not that the Conservatives are concerned about high standards of behaviour but that they are absolutely livid that a senior and widely respected British business man is a Labour Minister.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |