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Mrs. Gillan indicated dissent.
Mr. Wilkinson: I thank the Minister for her generous remarks. As we are in a period of bipartisan good will, I want to make some suggestions on the Green Paper proposals. I reiterate that nearly all the small business men whom I have met want either a statutory right to interest or some other statutory mechanism to ensure that they are paid on time and get the benefits of a good cash flow, and I agree with them entirely.
Mrs. Roche: I completely agree with the hon. Gentleman and I would be delighted to discuss the matter with him. He will also be interested to know that the statutory right to interest is not the only measure that we propose.
My hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West, in her excellent maiden speech, also spoke about late payment, so she, too, may like to know that, apart from the statutory right to interest, we are working with all small business organisations on credit management and other measures to combat late payment. One small business organisation is to publish league tables to show how companies perform, and it is important for the Government to set tough targets, which we intend to do.
I welcome the remarks of the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood and my door is always open to him to discuss further how we can tackle the problem. The issue is so serious that we should all give it our attention.
I am not really surprised that the hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham did not speak about innovations--disappointed, but not surprised--because every working day during the previous Parliament a small business went bust every three minutes; it is not surprising that the Conservatives are embarrassed by their appalling record of boom-and-bust politics.
I mentioned that there had been a number of excellent speeches.
Mrs. Gillan:
The hon. Lady has clearly moved on to other speakers and has finished her analysis of my speech. Perhaps she will comment on the Home Office export initiative matter that I raised. Did she know that it was being cancelled by the Home Office and does she believe that 51 days' notice is reasonable? Did she know, was she consulted and does she think it reasonable?
Mrs. Roche:
I answered the hon. Lady earlier. If she requires any further details, I will be happy to write to her, as I am sure my Home Office colleagues will be.
My hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Mr. Timms) as usual made an excellent speech, which is a tribute to his knowledge in this area. Rightly, he spoke about the Cambridge phenomenon and also about the research infrastructure. He paid proper regard to the contribution that science parks and incubators also make in this important area. I think that his points about London were well made, not least because I am a fellow London Member of Parliament.
The hon. Member for Esher and Walton (Mr. Taylor) made some excellent points as ever and I thank him for his kind remarks about what this Government are doing. He made a good point about the importance of design, saying, and I absolutely agree, that all firms should realise the importance of design in a practical way. Design is not a luxury to be added on if time allows. It is essential to business success. It is important not merely to new companies, but to older companies as they refocus. I have seen some good examples.
I also agree about the importance to the development and prosperity of small firms of new technology--and information technology in particular. Given my responsibility for the telecommunications and IT industries, I realise that many new initiatives are coming from that direction.
The hon. Member for Esher and Walton also made a valuable point about new product design, which is particularly important in manufacturing and in industries where products perhaps have a shelf life of two or three years. Tool making is one example of an environment where such a base in skills and design is needed--and computer-aided design clearly plays an important part.
The hon. Gentleman also rightly referred to the century date change problem. That is a very serious problem indeed and that is why the Government have committed nearly £1 million this year to Action 2000 and, I am delighted to say, have appointed Don Cruickshank as its chairman. There will also be a full-time director and staff. The hon. Gentleman was also right to point to the skills shortage in that area. That is why I was delighted to host a skills summit with the industry this summer.
The hon. Gentleman rightly referred to the SMART scheme, to which I pay tribute as it has clearly had quite an effect. In that connection, I must mention the teaching company scheme, which is of great value to small business, and particularly the connection with the university. I am pleased to say that it was introduced by a Labour Government in 1975.
Everyone who heard the speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West appreciated what an excellent maiden speech it was. It came very much from her own knowledge. One of the great pleasures of having the privilege of being a Member of this House is working with men and women who bring to it their knowledge and experience. That is true of hon. Members on both sides of the House and can only add to the quality and value of our debates. I am pleased that my hon. Friend waited to make her maiden speech in this debate. I agree with her remarks on paperwork, regulation and late payment. All those points were well made. The people of Wolverhampton, South-West have an excellent representative.
The hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare (Mr. Cotter) made a well-informed speech that ranged over several important issues. I am grateful for his support for what the Government are doing on late payment. We would wish to talk to him about that. It is an important issue, worthy of support from all parties. I noted his points about business links. I hope that he will appreciate our publication last month of the vision statement for enhanced business links, which has been warmly welcomed not only by the business link network and its staff but by small businesses. The document tries to bring small businesses on board.
My hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West mentioned the quality of advice, which is tackled in the enhanced business links vision statement. We have tried to improve quality at all levels, not only at adviser level but in respect of board development. I am delighted that we will be working with the Institute of Directors on board management.
The hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare mentioned mutual guarantee schemes, which have an important part to play. That is why I was delighted to attend the launch of a scheme by the National Association of Guarantee Societies and the Co-op bank. Business links brought to that scheme the advice that is so necessary for new, start-up and growing businesses.
My hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Mr. Beard) made some good points about our science base and paid a tribute, which I warmly endorse, to our Nobel prize winners. He spoke about the importance of development and of its connection with marketing. It is a similar point to that which was made about design. Marketing is not an add-on but essential, which is why I was pleased to speak at the recent Industrial Marketing Council conference about how to bring together marketing and innovation. My hon. Friend's points were well made. There is Government support for strengthening links between university researchers and business-led development. My hon. Friend the Minister for Science, Energy and Industry will be making some developments in that area shortly.
It will not surprise the hon. Member for Billericay that I did not agree with everything that she said, but there were points that struck a note that I endorse. I wholly disagree with what she said about the minimum wage and the social chapter. At its annual conference, the Federation of Small Businesses endorsed the idea of a sensibly set minimum wage. The hon. Lady knows that the social chapter makes special mention of small firms and states:
I thank the hon. Member for Billericay for her warm words to my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West. She was right that the practical nature of my hon. Friend's work will be of use to the House. I agree with the hon. Lady about on-the-job training. People running their own small businesses do not always have the time to go on training courses from nine to five. They often want advice or information at midnight or 6 am. Make no mistake, those are the hours that many small business men work to ensure that their companies are successful. For that reason I hope that the hon. Lady will
find our initiatives attractive. We are developing the university for industry so that practical skills training can be given at work. Enterprise zones are another important project. I agree with the hon. Lady that there is something extremely satisfying about seeing young people learning from skilled older people about how a job is done. I hope that we will be able to establish much more skills training at the workplace.
I agree with the hon. Lady about the importance of mentoring. The school tours made by Alan Sugar have been warmly welcomed by them and they are yet another way of communicating to young people the attractions of a career in industry and the fact that entrepreneurship is good.
My hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West mentioned the Prince's Youth Business Trust. A great deal of its work is devoted to mentoring and older, experienced business people have given much back to young entrepreneurs who, in turn, are used as role models.
I was pleased to note that my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Dr. Palmer) mentioned the enterprise zone and its potential benefits. He also described how research partnerships know no national boundaries. I was in Germany recently with a number of representatives of creative small businesses for discussions with their German counterparts. It was interesting to note how large research projects often lead to collaboration between different countries.
I found the speech of the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Mr. Prior) slightly disappointing because he seemed to suggest that initiatives such as benchmarking are not that important. I fundamentally disagree, as does the CBI. If I may say as gently as I can, that attitude shows how out of touch with business the Conservative party has become.
The hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood made a charming and courteous speech. It will not come as a surprise to him to learn that I cannot agree with much
of his speech, but I find common cause with him about our small business organisations. I find my dealings with such organisations one of the most valuable aspects of my work. The chambers of commerce, the Forum of Private Business, the Federation of Small Businesses, the small firms councils of the CBI and the Institute of Directors play a valuable role in pressing forward the required agenda, and I pay tribute to their efforts.
"directives adopted . . . shall avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal constraints in a way which would hold back the creation and development of small and medium sized undertakings."
The point is already covered.
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