HC Deb 07 December 1981 vol 14 cc572-4
11. Mr. Renton

asked the Secretary of State for Industry what steps he is taking to ascertain which sectors of British industry have the most promising prospects for growth in the 1980s.

The Minister for Industry and Information Technology (Mr. Kenneth Baker)

There will be growth in many sectors of British industry. We have chosen some sectors and technologies for special attention and support, including information technology, microelectronics, fibre optics and the application of advanced manufacturing techniques.

Mr. Renton

I thank my hon. Friend for that reply and I know of his contribution in the area. Does he believe that, at a time when Britain is in the middle of a technological revolution, we need some new concepts in the area of industrial incentives? What does my hon. Friend think about the recent Neddy report, which showed the degree to which industrial incentives exist among our competitors, incentives which continue whichever Government are in power and which have given great stimulus to new, high technology companies?

Mr. Baker

The report to which my hon. Friend refers was taken at the previous Neddy meeting and will be taken again at the February meeting because we consider it of such crucial importance. It is a report on the whole of the electronics industry.

On the question of special programmes, I remind the House that I announced during the past few months a special programme of support for robotic development amounting to £10 million, a programme for the introduction of computer-assisted design in British businesses for £6 million, and a research and development programme for fibre optics costing £25 million. It is my intention to announce further such programmes next year.

Mr. Douglas

Does the Minister accept that what he has announced to the House has a narrow technological base? Is he aware that he and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have undermined large sections of British manufacturing industry, and that the statement last week by the Chancellor will do nothing to enhance industry's growth prospects generally because it will have no effect on gross domestic capital formation?

Mr. Baker

I do not wish the hon. Gentleman to feel that the measures that I have announced and will be announcing are restricted to a narrow technological base. That is not the case. Many industries, whether manufacturing furniture, biscuit tins, carpets or clothing, must use the new technologies or they will not be in business in the next five or 10 years. It is depressing that, despite all the efforts of the Government and the previous Government, 50 per cent. of British companies still do not use microtechnology. Perhaps the most modern piece of equipment that they have is an electric typewriter.

Mr. Maclennan

What does the Minister believe are the growth prospects of timber-based industries in the 1980s, especially pulp? What steps are the Government taking to strengthen their technological base?

Mr. Baker

The industries to which the hon. Gentleman has referred are also eligible for the various programmes that I have announced, especially the product and process development scheme. His question on the Government's timber policy is more fairly directed to my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Mr. Forman

Is my hon. Friend aware that the measures to support industries with a future in the new technology are widely welcomed by Conservative Members? Can he be sure that there is enough going on under the heading of "Government procurement", especially with regard to the Civil Service Department and its lamentably slow procedure on the matter?

Mr. Baker

My hon. Friend is right. It is an important area in which the Government can influence the development of companies and industries. I have already announced a scheme for offices of the future for parts of the public sector, which has direct support from the Government. The "micros in schools" scheme is an interesting and effective use of public expenditure to get microcomputers into every secondary school by the end of next year. We are considering other ideas and schemes where public purchasing could be used more effectively. After all, trade rather than aid is a good philosophy.

Mrs. Renée Short

The Minister has announced a limited programme of getting a computer into every secondary school, but do we not need to aim at having a computer in every school and. before too long, in every home to make the necessary progress in the new technologies?

Mr. Baker

That is an entirely laudable ambition, but our first target is to get a microcomputer into every secondary school by the end of 1982, and we are only a few hundred schools short of that at present. From January I am extending the scheme to all secondary schools and considering whether in the course of next year it can be extended to primary schools. Considerable impetus for computers in homes will be given through the BBC's computer literacy project next January, which will comprise a series of programmes associated with the British microcomputer. If people tune into the programme they will see that there is no great magic about such systems, and they are easy to learn.

Mr. Butcher

Further to the point about trade and not aid, does my hon. Friend agree that the business of government is still under-computerised and that the greater use of computers in Government Departments might help to provide the figures requested by my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Sussex (Mr. Renton), for example?

Mr. Baker

I have sympathy with my hon. Friend's view. The business of Government is not only under-computerised but under-word processed and so on. The House is hardly a glittering example of the use of modern techology.

Mr. Orme

Does the Minister agree that advanced technology can thrive only against the backgrround of a thriving manufacturing sector? Has he read the statement made yesterday by a prominent industrialist, Raymond Shephard, managing director of International Harvester that the Government's economic policies are ensuring that manufacturing industry faces a slow death"?

Mr. Baker

In the three months from May to September manufacturing output rose by 1½ per cent. In the first nine months of the year manufacturing productivity has risen by 9 per cent. I was waiting for the right hon. Gentleman to tell us the official Opposition's attitude to the new technological industries, but again there is absolute silence. If the Labour Party believes that the growth of manufacturing and technology should be dominated by nationalisation, massive intervention and bureaucratic controls, the sunrise industries may become the sunset industries.