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Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
The futures of millions of people working in small businesses throughout Britain can be made more or less secure and their daily working lives easier or harder by the Secretary of State's decisions. I invite her now to break the mould of the past two years, abandon her Government's over-taxing, over-regulating and meddlesome ways and support our motion, which I commend to the House.
4.50 pm
The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Patricia Hewitt): I beg to move, To leave out from "House" to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:
- "agrees that small and medium-sized businesses are crucial to the prosperity of the nation and will be responsible for many of the new jobs and much of the future innovation in the economy; welcomes the steps that the Government has taken to make it easier than ever before for people to start their own business; acknowledges that the Government has created the economic conditions of macro-economic stability and low and stable interest rates in which small business can grown and prosper; believes that the Government has created a pro-enterprise tax environment; and applauds the Government for improving access to finance for small and medium-sized businesses, removing unnecessary regulations and providing world class business support."
I particularly regret that, because this is a debate about small businesses. One of the best things about being Secretary of State for Trade and Industry or Minister for Small Business and E-Commerce, as I was for two years previously, has been that I can get around the country and meet some of our wonderful entrepreneurs and owner-managers. I have met people such as Dave Stevens and his team at Cooke Optics in Leicestershire, who, with the help of a DTI grant, developed the high-definition film lenses that were used in that wonderful film "Chicago". It was one of those grants on which the hon. Member for South Suffolk pours scorn, a £140,000 SMART award—a small firms merit award for research. A few weeks ago, Dave Stevens told me in an e-mail:
- "It is now our responsibility to return to the UK through 95 per cent. export some revenue from this investment."
Ms Hewitt: My hon. Friend, who plays such a superb role in promoting science, is absolutely right. We in Leicester are particularly proud of that discovery, which has created benefits for our whole society and economy.
I should also like to mention Irene and Arthur Allen in rural Norfolk, who created a tiny company called Listawood 15 years ago. It was a family company that was started around the kitchen table with a £40-a-week enterprise allowance.
Mr. Henry Bellingham (North-West Norfolk): It is in my constituency.
Ms Hewitt: Yes. I visited the firm years ago when I was deputy chair of the Commission on Social Justice.
It was a wonderful firm and is now a flourishing manufacturing company. It makes PC products and has a turnover of £8 million and 100 employees. I say to the hon. Member for South Suffolk that, from the outset, it built up the business by recruiting local staff and giving them family-friendly working because that was what they needed. As a result, it has built up a dedicated, loyal and flexible work force who are one of the main reasons for its success.A few weeks ago, I visited another Leicestershire company and met Stefan Olsberg and his colleagues at Voice Connect in Groby. They have developed wonderful software that helps schools to cut truancy through text messaging, e-mails and voice mails to parents. People can use whatever system of communication they want. The company is now extending the product to GPs so that they can cut those wasted appointments. It is franchising the business, which it has already expanded to include more than 40 employees, throughout the country, giving other entrepreneurs a chance.
Let me mention, if I may, one of the many entrepreneurs in my own constituency, Atul Lakhani, whose new restaurant my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz) and I had the pleasure of opening last Friday. My hon. Friend the Member for Croydon, Central (Geraint Davies) founded and grew an outstanding travel business that is promoting the environment and ecologically responsible tourism in Crete.
Mr. Andrew Robathan (Blaby): I am grateful to the Secretary of State, who is my near neighbour in Leicestershire. Does she recall that last February the then Leader of the House, who is now Secretary of State for Health, went to talk to small businesses in Leicestershire? Afterwards, a banner headline in the Leicester Mercury said, "Minister offers sympathy about red tape," but all he had to offer was sympathy. When I spoke to small businesses in Leicestershire, they complained that the right hon. Lady had not been visiting them, yet I now hear that she has been visiting them endlessly.
Ms Hewitt: I visit and talk to small businesses week in, week out, both as Secretary of State and because they are in my constituency, as well as in other parts of the city and the county. I shall turn later to regulation, which is of course important.
The reality is that whether it is Indian food, tourism, the creative industries or new technologies, our entrepreneurs are leading the way. I was delighted a couple of weeks ago when Surrey Satellite Technologies, one of the companies that has been spun off from the science departments of the university of Surrey, won a Euro30 million contract, the first to be awarded by the European Union, to lead the development of Europe's first satellite navigation system, Galileo.
Those are examples of outstanding entrepreneurs and businesses throughout our country. For me, they are the real heroes and heroines of our economy—entrepreneurs who work incredibly hard, invest their savings and often put their homes at risk in order to build up a team of people, create a great product and grow a business. I sometimes think that if somebody
goes into a shop, buys a scratchcard and wins £1 million there is more public celebration of their success than if they grow a business from scratch through sheer hard work and determination.I hope that all Members on both sides of the House agree that we should celebrate our entrepreneurs, who do not get great rewards for great failure. If their business fails, they lose their savings and their livelihoods. One of the reasons why I have been so determined to deal with the issue of big rewards for big failure is precisely that the actions of a few damage the reputations of the vast majority of decent, hard-working and determined business people in our country. I want to pay tribute to those millions of small businesses and the owner-managers who run them, who provide more than 12 million jobs, create more than half our national output and now generate nine out of 10 of all new business ideas. They have always been the bedrock of our economy. A century or so ago, we were called a nation of shopkeepers. Today, as the world becomes even more competitive and technology changes faster than ever before, small firms matter even more than they used to. Small businesses are much faster on their feet, much more likely to innovate and much closer to their customers, and they matter all the more in this competitive global economy.
Angus Robertson: I fully endorse the stress that the Secretary of State is placing on the importance of small business in growing the economy. She will be aware that, sadly, powers over the business world in Scotland still remain in this place, especially in the macro-economic sense. Does she agree that growth in the economy is key to helping small business; and, to help other Members to understand the situation, can she tell us what is the growth rate in the Scottish economy at the present time, and whether she thinks that it is adequate?
Ms Hewitt: It is a great deal more than it would be if the nationalists were running Scotland.
It is forecast that by the end of the decade the 3.7 million smaller businesses in our country today will have increased to more than 4.5 million. There will be nearly 1 million more of them, with 2 million new jobs between them. We celebrate our entrepreneurs, and no lectures are necessary from the Conservatives for us to understand that it is the Government's responsibility to help them to succeed.
Mr. Martin O'Neill (Ochil): Before my right hon. Friend leaves the subject of science and technology, and the success of Galileo at Surrey university, will she share with us some of the thoughts about knowledge transfer that were exposed in the White Paper? If we are to persuade academia to respond in the same way as those in Guildford to the exciting opportunities provided by the search, we must ensure that much more emphasis is placed on the significance of knowledge transfer and the smoothing of the path from the research laboratory to the workshop and the business.
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