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Mr. Macdonald: As I said, this will be the last Scottish programme Bill to be presented to the House.
To return to less controversial matters. A number of items count towards the financial limit that is placed on Scottish Enterprise: first, its and its subsidiaries' general borrowings; secondly, sums issued by the Secretary of State or the Treasury in fulfilment of guarantees; thirdly, loans guaranteed by Scottish Enterprise or its subsidiaries; and finally, the largest item comprises payment from the Secretary of State consisting of grant in aid less administrative expenses, plus voted loans payments.
The increase to £4 billion will allow Scottish Enterprise to continue to operate until approximately March 2001. Thereafter, as already noted, the Scottish Parliament will have an opportunity to consider the future funding arrangements. It is entirely right that that should be a matter for the Scottish Parliament to decide.
Dr. Norman A. Godman (Greenock and Inverclyde):
On a practical, not a historical question, I hope that the
Mr. Macdonald:
The legislation will not do so by itself, of course, but it will enable Scottish Enterprise to keep functioning and, therefore, to follow through the Government's plans and the strategy that has been agreed with SE, which takes into account the very points made by my hon. Friend.
Expenditure for 1997-98 alone has achieved some significant successes: the creation of 30,000 jobs opportunities; 17,700 projects undertaken with Scottish businesses; 5,300 new businesses started up, generating £33 million of additional sales and employment opportunities for 13,500 people; and finally, 87 inward investment projects.
Recently, there has been much in the news about job losses, which are always of concern. Yesterday, we heard of the possible closure of the Wrangler factory in Falkirk with a loss of 500 jobs. I understand that Forth Valley Enterprise, the local authority, the Employment Service and Triaze, which is a new deal training company, are meeting to put together practical steps to help employees gain alternative employment. Falkirk is not the only area to have to cope with setbacks of that nature.
Those statistics do not tell of the real impact on individuals and families who suffer because of job losses. However, the successes in creating jobs should also be noted. Of particular relevance to Falkirk, Thomas Cook in Larbert has just launched a campaign to recruit at least another 250 staff in the next four to five months. There are other successes throughout Scotland. In recent months, such companies as Foxteq, Packard Bell NEC, Bank of Bermuda, BSkyB and Universal Scientific Industries have announced plans to create more than 6,000 new jobs in Scotland. Yes, jobs are being lost, but throughout Scotland there are positive successes in job creation.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State recently provided Scottish Enterprise with strategic guidance that will ensure that it is aligned to the Government's aims and objectives for the economy as a whole. That includes the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Greenock and Inverclyde (Dr. Godman), and we debated those aims on Monday in the Scottish Grand Committee. The strategic guidance lays out ambitious plans for Scottish Enterprise: to help create 100,000 new businesses in the next ten years; to improve their survival rates; to broaden the knowledge base of the Scottish economy; to promote the clustering of companies in sectors that are most likely to benefit from a strategy of collaboration; to engage the strength of large companies in partnerships across the economy; to raise the level of investment in research and development; to sustain Scotland's attraction to inward investment; and finally, to help Scottish Trade International to create new exporters and expand new markets for Scottish goods.
Mr. Oliver Letwin (West Dorset):
As the Minister and some of his hon. Friends have mentioned, this is the last Scottish programme Bill before the House. [Hon. Members: "Hear, hear."] That will be a matter of delight to Labour Members, but a matter of sadness to me not to have the opportunity in my guise as MacLetwin to encounter the Minister with his charm and elegant exposition. It has frequently been the case in Committee and on considering orders that the Minister has been able to make his remarks concise. I hope that I have been able to oblige by also reducing mine, in some cases to approximately 30 seconds. That would be in the tradition of the Scottish Enterprise Bill's predecessors: when previously the limit has been raised, the debate has been short. I fear, however, I cannot utterly oblige the Minister on this occasion. I hope that he will bear with me if I make a few observations about what I think is a remarkably different situation from that which first appears.
This is a short Bill--that is an understatement--and it appears to be innocuous. After all, when allowance is made for the Scottish Enterprise (Aggregate Amount Outstanding) Order 1997 having raised already the limit to £3,000 million, this Bill only raises the limit by a further £1,000 million. I hope that hon. Members will pause at the words "only raises the limit by a further £1,000 million". That is about enough to pay 50,000 nurses for a year, to buy 1,000 miles of railway, to pay 37,600 teachers, to build 340 primary and 150 secondary schools or to build 10 major district hospitals. It is a large sum. It is about the same as the gross domestic product of Fiji or Nicaragua and about twice the GDP of Chad or Belize. I hope that those measures make it plain that we are not talking about peanuts. The question is whether we are dealing with monkeys.
Mrs. Maria Fyfe (Glasgow, Maryhill):
Does the hon. Gentleman recall any such substantial increase during the Tory years when cities such as Glasgow were left to get on with high levels of unemployment to the despair of many citizens? The previous Government simply ignored their needs.
Mr. Letwin:
I am grateful to the hon. Lady. The last time the limit was raised under the order it was raised by £1,000 million, so I can recall, or rather read about, such things. As I proceed the hon. Lady will discover that we in the Opposition have no opposition to the idea of an increase, nor to an increase of this magnitude. We may find ourselves joined by the hon. Lady in a few moments when she realises what is happening in Scottish Enterprise.
It is true, as the Minister says, that this organisation claims to have created about 30,000 jobs, net, at a cost of about £15,000 a job, if my arithmetic serves me correctly. That is not all that it does. The level of information that
the organisation provides in its report and accounts is a good deal better than sometimes applies to non- departmental public bodies. It is still fairly exiguous compared with the amount of information about most public companies--certainly most public companies spending £400 million a year or so as this does.
There is enough in the report and accounts, with which the Minister is no doubt fully familiar, to cause more than a few eyebrows to be raised on the Benches opposite. This is not a partisan point, but something on which the whole House can agree. [Interruption.] I wonder whether the hon. Member for Carlisle (Mr. Martlew), who from a sedentary position says that there is no reason for eyebrows to be raised, knows how much Scottish Enterprise spends on administration.
Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle):
I am sorry to intervene. I was pointing out that there are no hon. Members behind the hon. Gentleman to raise their eyebrows.
Mr. Letwin:
I do apologise to the hon. Gentleman, but I did say the Benches opposite. As a matter of fact three of my hon. Friends are here and ready to offer themselves and their wisdom to the House. In any event I hope that we can make up in quality for what we lack in quantity.
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