Examination of Witnesses (Quesitons 160-166)
RT HON
BARONESS TAYLOR
OF BOLTON,
MR STEPHEN
FRENCH, MR
TONY PAWSON,
MS GLORIA
CRAIG AND
MR PAUL
LINCOLN
21 NOVEMBER 2007
Q160 Mr Jenkin: I thought you might
say that.
Baroness Taylor of Bolton: You
were right, I did say it! The reason I want a delay is because
I want to dovetail everything together and hold discussions on
the new planning round. Having been here two weeks I am not prepared
to make snap decisions. So I want to look at what we are doing
on the planning round, hence the decision on the Industrial Strategy.
We are confident that we can get agreements between the departments.
We are confident that we can get the service level agreements
about the kind of support that we will provide. We have been working
them up in some detail between the departments and my colleague,
Lord Jones, and I have been looking at these issues in some detail.
We will be moving to making a decision about those before long.
Q161 Mr Jones: Is it not a fact,
Minister, that honestly the forces of conservativeboth
with a big "C" and a small "c"are whipping
this up into a situation whereby they think if they keep squawking
hard enough the decision will be changed, but is it not a fact
that this actually gives industry and MoD some great opportunities
which should be grasped rather than just this silly argument of
keep going on? Is it not also a fact of life, whether they like
it or not, that DESO and the MoD brought a little bit of this
on themselves, in the sense that what this also gives an opportunity
to do is a little more transparency to the position of arms exports,
which I would personally support? As someone who supports the
arms industry in this country as being very important to the UK
economy, it will actually give public confidence too, which was
not there before.
Baroness Taylor of Bolton: I think
you are absolutely right to say that this decision will not be
changed. The decision has been made and it has been made because
it was thought right to put defence exports in with all other
exports within the department
Mr Jenkin: Political correctness.
Q162 Mr Jones: It is not at all.
Baroness Taylor of Bolton:
that has the expertise. I do not think we should underestimate
the expertise that the department has throughout the world on
issues of this kind. I think, therefore, that with the MoD supporting
the work of that department, where appropriate and as specified
in the service level agreements that we are going to establish,
that will put the industries in a very strong position.
Q163 Chairman: One final question
on this: Minister, you say the department has the expertise. UKTI
does not usually do government-to-government contracts, but defence
agreements are usually government-to-government contracts. How
are UKTI going to adapt themselves to that new role?
Baroness Taylor of Bolton: I hesitate
to disagree with you but it is not the case that the majority
of contracts now are government-to-government. We do have government-to-government
projects, and it will be possible for us to maintain the position
of having a Memorandum of Understanding government-to-government,
but the day-to-day responsibility will have to be worked out in
detail. You can have government-to-government relationships and
agreements in the new system and there will be occasions when
that happens, but they are not the usual projects, and government-to-government
projects these days are considered to be exceptional.
Mr Jenkin: Is that in numbers of projects
Chairman: I think we have finished now.
Q164 Mr Jenkin: Is that in numbers
of projects or is it in value terms?
Baroness Taylor of Bolton: Certainly
the number of projects is very small.
Q165 Chairman: Minister, thank you
very much for coming before this Committee so soon into your regime,
and for, if I may delicately say so, answering questions so thoroughly
competently.
Baroness Taylor of Bolton: Thank
you.
Q166 Chairman: We are grateful to
all of your team. It is a very important issue. Can we remain
in contact, please, about the timing of further discussions with
this Committee about implementation arrangements and about the
timetable for ratification by the UK?
Baroness Taylor of Bolton: Yes.
I think that we will have to try to keep things very tight on
that, and we will keep you as informed as we can.
Chairman: To you and your team, thank
you very much indeed.
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