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5.31 pm
Ms Sandra Osborne (Ayr): I am by no means desperate to catch a train, as the hon. Member for West Dorset (Mr. Letwin) suggested. Indeed, I intend to use the opportunity of supporting the Scottish Enterprise Bill to highlight a number of local issues affecting Ayrshire--a place with which the hon. Gentleman may not be familiar.
If he listens, he may learn something about the recent problems and successes there. They emphasise the importance of the network that comprises Scottish Enterprise and the need for more resources which we hope will be made available shortly.
Scottish Enterprise has enjoyed a high profile this week. In the Scottish Grand Committee, the Minister made a statement on the new network strategy document; Sir Ian Wood gave evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee this week; and today we are debating the Scottish Enterprise Bill.
The Scottish Affairs Committee has been inquiring into inward and outward investment, and a number of issues have been raised. In addition to the visit to America--rather than repeating any of the points that have been made, I shall simply say that I concur with the views of my colleagues on the Select Committee--there have been several visits to Scotland. We have taken evidence in the borders and in Dundee and I am pleased to say that we shall shortly visit Ayr to hear about the problems affecting inward investment and tourism in my constituency.
I believe that the Select Committee will produce an extremely helpful report. Some of the comments that have been made today are relevant, although I would not dream of pre-empting our recommendations or making them before the publication of the report. One issue raised during our inquiry concerned the potential problems associated with having a number of different agencies dealing with economic development and competing for inward investment. That can occur nationally and locally. I shall briefly describe the approach adopted in Ayrshire, which is a good example of how local players can work together to achieve a coherent strategic approach.
The Ayrshire economic forum is a partnership drawn from the three local authorities: Ayrshire chamber of commerce and industry, the Scottish Trades Union Council and Enterprise Ayrshire. For the past two years the forum has been working towards a new economic development strategy for Ayrshire. However, it has been overtaken by recent events, particularly a number of redundancies announced by significant companies such as Volvo, Digital, Prestwick Circuits, Sweater Shop, Sports Division and Butlins. Following those redundancies, the Minister addressed the forum and called for an action plan for jobs in Ayrshire. He said his involvement reflected the Government's concern and commitment to support areas facing structural economic change. I was pleased that he was involved.
It is clear that Ayrshire is an area facing such changes, and that there is a need for new businesses in Ayrshire and further diversification of the economic base. The economic forum will shortly publish an action plan for jobs, and will drive that forward with Scottish Office involvement. Again, that is a positive move on the part of the Scottish Office.
The action plan for jobs will be set in the context of the existing Enterprise Ayrshire business plan, the economic development plans of the local authorities and the Scottish Enterprise network strategy. That has been possible because the forum is a genuine partnership in which all the agencies work together.
The changes that are impacting on the Ayrshire economy are deep-seated and are affecting a wide range of sectors such as electronics, engineering, textiles and retail
distribution. In the past, those sectors have contributed a great deal to Ayrshire's economic prosperity. We have a highly self-contained labour market, with 96 per cent. of Ayrshire jobs taken by Ayrshire residents. Tackling structural change in Ayrshire's economy therefore continues to be our overriding priority.
The pace of economic change, along with the wave of redundancies to which I referred, means that the current resources available to Enterprise Ayrshire and its local authority partners leave them running fast to stand still. The action plan for jobs must, therefore, be underpinned by the availability of additional resources. I am sure that the House will forgive me for making my bid for Ayrshire in the same way as others have made bids for their local area.
The work done by the forum does not suggest a quick-fix strategy--it is a detailed plan for the future, with concrete proposals that will create jobs. It builds on Ayrshire's considerable existing assets, which includethe extension of the M77 and Glasgow Prestwick international airport--which continues to achieve substantial growth in its freight and passenger business, and does a great deal, as we heard on our trip to north America, to support the development of the Scottish electronics industry.
The presence of nationally significant development sites is also an advantage. As well as the area surrounding Prestwick airport, we have Riverside in Irvine and Rowallan in Kilmarnock. These represent future potential, and are areas on which we hope to build. We also have international research institutions in Ayrshire, such as the Hannah research institute, the Scottish agricultural college and the higher education facilities at Ayr campus of Paisley university, which are developing positively.
I am sure that everyone in the House will recognise that Ayrshire is a beautiful part of the country with a natural environment that provides an exceptional quality of life, which I recommend to all hon. Members--including the hon. Member for West Dorset. Despite those assets, however, Ayrshire's road and rail links will continue to require substantial investment if they are to meet future business needs. As my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Shettleston (Mr. Marshall) has emphasised, we will need to target areas of acute disadvantage and join in the Government's existing efforts to tackle social exclusion.
The action plan will have ambitious targets to create thousands of jobs over five years, but there has been a deliberate aim that the targets should be realistic and achievable. That is very important for local credibility. People often hear of action plans, task forces and working parties being set up, but they do not always see tangible results. There is a real, determined effort to make sure that there are tangible achievements after five years.
There has been also some good news in Ayrshire recently, with a number of announcements about inward investment--for example, Universal Scientific Industries creating 700 jobs in Irvine--and there have been positive views from local companies.
I want to highlight the work of the Prestwick task force, which was set up specifically to address aviation issues involving Prestwick airport and the surrounding aerospace companies. One of the crucial elements in its success has been the involvement of the national and multinational
companies surrounding the airport. They have participated with great enthusiasm and have co-operated to the benefit of the whole area as well as themselves.
The final report, published in December, is a testament to how a collaborative approach can produce results. Only 18 months ago, when British Aerospace announced that production at Jetstream would cease at Prestwick, the banner headlines were all about the devastation of the Ayrshire economy. Now the talk is about Prestwick as a leading aerospace cluster on the world stage and about the continuing growth of traffic, especially freight cargo, at Prestwick airport.
The task force set itself eight targets. They have all been fully achieved or are well on the way to being achieved and have been picked up by other bodies. Alternative employment has been found for the majority of Jetstream workers affected by the closure, and all 270 aerostructure jobs at British Aerospace, which were at risk, have now been secured. In addition, more than 600 jobs have been created or are planned for the Prestwick area.
Locate in Scotland undertook a marketing exercise in north America highlighting the advantages of Prestwick as a location for aerospace companies. I agree with what other hon. Members have said about Locate in Scotland's work, which we witnessed when we were in America. The work done for Prestwick has resulted so far in 15 active leads that are currently being pursued. The airport recently opened a new purpose-built airfreight facility with support from Enterprise Ayrshire.
Some outstanding issues were highlighted by the task force report and were agreed by all the partners in the Ayrshire economic forum to be crucial to the further development of the Ayrshire economy. Those issues are extremely relevant to the work of Enterprise Ayrshire.
Improvements are needed to the roads infrastructure. Like other hon. Members, I will make a bid for the upgrading of the A77 to be completed. That is crucial to future development in Ayrshire. We will also pursue assisted area status. It will come as no surprise to hon. Members when I mention the vital importance of the completion of the new Scottish air traffic control centre at Prestwick, which will provide hundreds of high-quality jobs. The current centre is already a major contributor to the local economy. We must have progress on the contract. That is not directly the responsibility of Enterprise Ayrshire or Scottish Enterprise, but I am sure that they would agree that it is absolutely crucial to the local economy.
We need progress on fifth freedom rights for Prestwick airport. I am pleased that the Government have recently shown more flexibility and have granted fifth freedom rights to Polar Air Cargo at Prestwick, uniquely without a reciprocal arrangement from the United States Department of Transportation. That is real progress and it was certainly not achieved by the previous Government. In the long term we need a final agreement on fifth freedom cargo rights, which will bring significant benefits to Prestwick and indeed the whole of Scotland. We will continue to press for that.
It is clear that only a certain amount can be achieved locally and we are very dependent on national action and support to further our aims. A wider economic framework obviously determines how effective the enterprise companies can be locally, and general economic conditions have a major impact on the prospects for any one area.
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