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Regional Development Funds
5. Mr. Harry Barnes (North-East Derbyshire): What representations he has received in response to proposals he has submitted to the European Union for Objective 2 funding. [95826]
The Minister for Trade (Mr. Richard Caborn): My Department has received over 30 representations since submitting our proposals to the European Commission on the new United Kingdom objective 2 areas for 2000 to 2006. Two of the representations were from my hon. Friend.
Mr. Barnes: I welcome my good friend the Minister to his new position. Is he aware that--according to the index of local deprivation and the Coalfield Alliance's coalfield index--Holmewood, Hasland and Clay Cross, south in my constituency are areas of high deprivation, and that Wingerworth and Clay Cross, north are former coalfield areas? Is he also aware that north-east Derbyshire has lost 70 per cent. of its objective 2 funding? Does he agree that the loss of that funding is made even harder to bear by the fact that areas near us, in South Yorkshire, seem to be doing quite well in obtaining objective 1 status, and that other areas, in parts of the east midlands, have also received a good settlement? Will he re-examine the situation in north-east Derbyshire to determine whether a fresh case on objective 2 could be made to the European Commission?
Mr. Caborn: My hon. Friend, as I said, made two representations to the Department, and I responded in some detail to him on those. We have now responded
to requests covering 1.71 million people in the coalfield communities, and I am sure that he will appreciate that we have conducted the most extensive consultation in trying to ensure that, in implementing our regeneration strategy, all regeneration moneys--from the single regeneration budget, assisted area status, the new deal for communities, and structural funds--are used to deal comprehensively with any structural weaknesses. The Government have responded to 91 per cent. of the requests made by regional development agencies in the English regions. Indeed, 91 per cent. of north-east Derbyshire that has received objective 2 funding is covered by both the objective 2 submissions and the transitional arrangements.
Mr. Graham Brady (Altrincham and Sale, West): Now that, for the first time in a generation, Britain has higher tax rates than Germany, does the Minister realise that the Government are rendering huge swathes of British business and economic life uncompetitive? Surely that fact will lead to a need for massive European assistance across Britain, and not only in the coalfield areas to which he referred.
Mr. Caborn: That does not accord with the facts. On Wednesday, 3 November, the business section of The Journal, a Tyneside newspaper, stated:
- "Half of Tyneside manufacturing firms are reporting fuller order books than six months ago and their optimism about the future is growing. Eight out of 10 companies"--
Mr. Caborn: These are the facts. The article states:
- "Eight out of 10 companies expect both their domestic and export orders to rise or at least stay the same in the coming months, according to the latest TEC 200 Tyneside Economic Trends survey."
Small Businesses
6. Mr. Lawrie Quinn (Scarborough and Whitby): What programmes he has developed to assist people running small businesses in acquiring new skills. [95827]
The Minister for Small Business and E-Commerce (Ms Patricia Hewitt): My Department helps managers of small businesses to develop their skills through the network of Business Links, which provide companies with information and advice on management development and other training issues. The new Small Business Service that we are establishing will strengthen that work on skills by ensuring that we have first-class business support centres in every part of the United Kingdom. In particular, they will give very high priority to developing skills in e-commerce, so that all our small businesses are able to exploit fully the potential of the new information and communication technology.
Mr. Quinn: May I echo the congratulations to my hon. Friend on her new position? As she will know, the composition of many seaside economies is built on the bedrock of small businesses. May I have some assurances
that constituencies such as my own will benefit from the regeneration opportunities available from developing the ideas that she has been describing?
Ms Hewitt: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that question. There is no doubt at all that small businesses, self-employment and small and growing enterprises play an enormously important part in regenerating disadvantaged areas. Two days ago, my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary and I published the report of the social exclusion unit's policy action team on enterprise in disadvantaged areas. I can assure my hon. Friend that the new Small Business Service, through the new franchised network of Business Links, will ensure that business support services are available to entrepreneurs and self-employed people in every part of the country, including disadvantaged areas such as his own.
Mrs. Angela Browning (Tiverton and Honiton): First, may I welcome to the Government Front Bench the new Ministers, many of whom appear to have moved from the Treasury? I hope that they will use that experience to stiffen the resolve of the Secretary of State--also a former Treasury Minister--as the DTI needs to take up a few issues with the Treasury on behalf of British business. The 13th report of the Select Committee on Trade and Industry on small business condemned the Secretary of State's regrettable habit of issuing potentially misleading information, and said:
- "Much of the funding of the Small Business Service
- "described in March 1999 as 'new money' has been subject to multiple announcement."
Ms Hewitt: We will respond fully to the Select Committee Report, and we are finalising the budget for the Small Business Service. We will be investing significantly more in small businesses across the country through the SBS than is currently invested through Business Links. Although the Business Links network that we inherited from the Conservatives was a significant improvement on what went before, it is not good enough for our small businesses. I hear repeatedly from small businesses and entrepreneurs that there is too much inconsistency and variation in quality across that network. We are determined to put that right with the creation of the new Small Business Service.
Mrs. Browning: No business person asked to give an account of the financial position of their business would be unable to answer a specific question such as the one I just asked the Minister, particularly as much of what the Secretary of State has said--which has been analysed by the Select Committee--is on the public record. If the Minister cannot give me an answer today, will she agree to write to me and give that figure? She will be aware that the report said that the Department had failed to publish clear figures relating to the small firms merit award for research and technology--the SMART fund--which, given her responsibilities within the Department, must be close to her heart. Exactly how much new money is in the SMART fund?
Ms Hewitt: I had the great pleasure recently of opening the business park at Nottingham-Trent university, where
three of the four companies incubated by the university are recipients of SMART fund awards. It is an excellent programme, and its evaluation has shown that it contributes significantly to high knowledge-based start-ups in this country. [Hon. Members: "How much money?"] We will be responding in due course to the Select Committee report, and I will announce to the House the full details of the budget for the Small Business Service and the Business Links franchises.
Mr. Martin O'Neill (Ochil): Will my hon. Friend take account of the fact that probably the biggest single barrier to small businesses getting into e-commerce is the cost of getting on-line, and then the cost of local telephone calls? Will she pressurise the Director General of Oftel and the telecoms companies to put together packages to free small businesses from their fear that the meter will be running for 24 hours a day if they have e-commerce and proper links with the rest of the world?
Ms Hewitt: My hon. Friend raises an important point. There are a number of barriers preventing small businesses from going on-line, including the lack of skills and confidence. We are addressing that lack through the new local support centres which we are creating as part of the Business Links franchises. However, there is a problem with charges. Although internet access charges at weekends and evenings in this country are among the lowest in the world, the problem of metered charges for daytime, peak-hour access is undoubtedly a barrier, particularly to the small business user.
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