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Mr. Byers: My hon. Friend raises an important point. There are two categories of people that we are trying to identify legally, so that we can separate them. One type of person is the responsible risk-taker, who has an idea, puts up his own money, tries hard but fails. The other category is the one to which my hon. Friend referred--
people who have nothing but contempt for their creditors and will exploit limited liability to its full extent. We must bear down as hard as we can on those people, while recognising that responsible risk-takers need some degree of protection so that they will not have to live with the stigma of failure for the rest of their lives.
The review that I have set in train will consider whether we can make that distinction. However, I assure my hon. Friend that we would not bring forward proposals which would allow rogue directors who have contempt for their creditors to escape the full force of the law. That law needs to be applied and we should give a clear message that that will continue to be the case.
Mr. Tony Baldry (Banbury):
There is a lot of detail in the Secretary of State's statement. I think that he used the word "unprecedented" with regard to a document that he was publishing containing the names and, I presume, the telephone numbers, of officials, so that members of the general public can speak directly to them. Presumably, the right hon. Gentleman will have no objection if hon. Members who take a particular interest in trade and industry matters, such as members of the Select Committee on Trade and Industry, also avail themselves of the chance to talk directly to those officials on the policy issues raised in the document.
Mr. Byers:
I have no problem with that. Those officials also have an e-mail address, so if the hon. Gentleman has that facility that is another way in which he can communicate with them.
Mr. Michael Clapham (Barnsley, West and Penistone):
I welcome my right hon. Friend's statement. Yesterday, together with other colleagues, I met representatives of the Sheffield branch of the Engineering Employers Federation to discuss the problems that they faced. They told me that they need assistance in establishing a conduit with the local universities in order to transfer technology. Will my right hon. Friend consider what measures he can introduce or assist with to establish a network throughout the UK to transfer technology from universities to industry?
Mr. Byers:
In due course, we shall be announcing funding allocations through our innovation budget, and I assure my hon. Friend that one area which will have our considerable attention will be the way in which ideas that are developed in universities can be exploited in the private sector to develop businesses as successfully as possible. If the group to which my hon. Friend referred would like to contact the Department, I am sure that we could give advice on how to facilitate such a dialogue with the local university sector. Over the years, Britain has been weak in that area, and we need to change our whole culture in terms of accessing ideas and innovation in the university sector for the benefit of all our people and for business generally.
Mr. Andrew Lansley (South Cambridgeshire):
Will the Secretary of State explain why, in his references to competition policy, he did not mention the implementation of the Competition Act 1998, given the importance which his predecessors attach to that? Is it because the Director General of Fair Trading and his office are having the difficulty which my right hon. Friend
With regard to mergers policy, will the Secretary of State simply admit that he has had to propose an independent scrutiny of mergers decisions simply because, since May 1997, he and his predecessors have let mergers policy, which was governed by the Tebbit doctrine on a predictable basis, turn into a policy that has become unpredictable, causing difficulty to the City and to business?
Mr. Byers:
The reality is that every merger application must be dealt with on its merits. Since I have been in post, no decision that I have taken on such matters will have come as any surprise to any informed commentator. If the hon. Gentleman has examples, I should be grateful if he would give them to me.
The director general has not drawn any particular problems to my attention. I met him only a couple of weeks ago and he felt that he had the resources to ensure that the Competition Act was implemented fairly and effectively.
Mr. Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield):
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his statement, particularly its emphasis on the knowledge-driven economy. All who are interested in the area know that that economy has no respect for the divisions of Departments of State. Is he aware that one of the most refreshing things about the statement is that it has started vigorously to break down those barriers that we had to put up with for 18 years, where the Department of Trade and Industry would not talk to the Treasury and the Treasury and the DTI would not talk to the Department for Education and Employment? It is refreshing that the Government are breaking down those barriers, resulting in a co-operative effort across all Departments of State to get the knowledge-driven economy really moving.
Mr. Byers:
I am delighted to confirm that. The Chancellor's Budget statement yesterday revealed clearly the extent to which we have co-operated across the Government to ensure that the Budget meets the needs of a range of different people. Today's statement and subsequent statements will do the same.
It would be a mistake not to record the valuable role that my hon. Friend has played over the years in breaking down barriers, particularly between higher education and the business sector, to develop innovation and enterprise, especially in his own region, but also throughout the country. Many of the ideas that we have introduced today are built on ideas that he has advanced in the past few years.
Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham):
Given the Secretary of State's statement that the creation of wealth is now more important than its distribution, can he explain why, in their first 22 months, his Government have introduced no fewer than 2,400 additional regulations, which adversely impact on business, and removed only 20?
Mr. Byers:
I would warn the hon. Gentleman to be very careful about his reference to regulations. In their last year in power, the Government whom he would have supported introduced 3,500 regulations compared with the 2,300 to which he referred. I am afraid that we are way behind, but that is not a target that we want to achieve.
Mr. Harry Cohen (Leyton and Wanstead):
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his statement and I welcome the arrangements that he has announced on mortgages. Will he extend them slightly so that endowment policies associated with mortgages are looked at so customers using those financial services obtain clarity?
Mr. Byers:
I am pleased to be able to clarify my comments and reassure my hon. Friend that today's announcement covers mortgages and other credit arrangements, including endowment policies. People will obtain clarity and know exactly what they are entering into when they make one of the largest investment decisions of their lives.
Mrs. Louise Ellman (Liverpool, Riverside):
I welcome the Secretary of State's practical commitment to enterprise and his promise to tackle one aspect of fuel poverty. Will he explain in more detail how funds from his Department will be made available to RDAs so that venture capital funds or other funds can meet opportunities that have been identified in the regions? Can he give us any further information on how he intends to tackle fuel poverty in a direct and meaningful manner?
Mr. Byers:
The relationship between the RDAs and the new Small Business Service is one of the issues to which we will have to give careful attention. We do not want duplication, but we want bodies to work together and the activities in which they are both involved to complement each other.
We can do many things about fuel poverty and we will be asking the energy regulator to draw up in his response a social action plan that considers how energy regulation will work. We are also enabling the regulator to extend his consideration to include people on low incomes. Today's announcement about standing charges could make a real difference to many people on low incomes because the proportion of their household expenditure spent on fuel is three and a half times that of people on average incomes. Fuel poverty is a real problem that needs to be tackled; we are not walking away from it and the steps that we have announced today will begin to make a real difference.
Mr. Brian White (Milton Keynes, North-East):
Today's statement and the consultation paper on e-commerce published last week will be widely welcomed, but my right hon. Friend will know that the skills shortage in respect of information technology staff and the need for the infrastructure on which the knowledge-based economy must be built have been
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