§ Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Berry.]
12.17 am§ Mr. Marcus Fox (Shipley)We often hear it said in the Chamber that our industrial base is something that we fondly remember and that we can never regain. There are those who can remember when Britain was the workshop of the world and when we exported to every major country, if not every country. We saw that base eroded. The classic example is the motor car industry. I think that I am right in saying that Austin cars were built in Japan under licence. Having gained that know-how, the Japanese excluded everyone else from the market. That market is now worth about 5 million vehicles. From that base the Japanese have managed virtually to take over the world scene. It is a familiar pattern and we should remember that it is one that we helped to create.
I represent a textile and engineering constituency. It sold machinery that made goods that competed eventually with our own exports. In many areas we have lost. A number of reasons led to us losing, which many hon. Members remember and could recount. I do not want to present a full list. We could talk about the unions, restrictive practices, wage claims that were too high, weak management and a failure to match up to changes. I think that we all agree that we have to sell more at home and abroad. That is why I have taken the subject of the encouragement of design skills for the debate. I have done that deliberately. All I am asking for is the sympathy and co-operation of the Department. I am delighted to see my hon. Friend the Minister on the Front Bench. I have been known to make an Adjournment debate speech with no Minister on the Front Bench. That was rectified within 10 or 15 minutes.
If I have a criticism of British industry—I must be careful because I have a constituency which is industrial in every sense of the word—it is that our industry has failed to adapt itself as quickly as it should to the changing needs that I have mentioned. Other countries have done that far more quickly than we have. In other words, market forces have not been responded to. We have continued to manufacture goods that we wanted to manufacture and we have not anticipated what the consumer or customer had in mind. The import penetration into the United Kingdom is not just on price grounds. There are many other factors involved. Often, as far as the customer is concerned, those goods have more appeal. They are designed and packaged more attractively.
British industry at all levels is not as aware as it should be of the importance of design. Those skills often—of course, there are exceptions—are not given their rightful recognition. On the boards of many companies that I can think of, it is hard to find mote than one or two where there is a board member who has experience in design and sales appeal. Of course, there are accountants—perhaps too many—on the boards of British companies, and, of course, there are legal people. I suggest that that, in itself, is a mistake.
My point in this debate is that, because of that lack of knowledge, or because the order of priorities has been wrong, we are witnessing what I intend to call a design drain. I am not asking for more money from the Department of Education and Science. Funding in the 293 schools and colleges must continue. I am admitting that the training is right. I would go so far as to say that we are acknowledged to have the best design schools in the world. The proof of that is easily obtained by the number of foreign students who are still seeking to come here, many of them paid for by their Governments.
My concern is what happens to those students after their training. For some time I have been concerned about that. My worst fears have been confirmed in that an increasing number are going abroad once they have completed their training, which can take several years. All that talent, which is our seed corn of the future, is lost to us once those people take up jobs in countries such as America, Japan or France. Many of them do not go there because they want to, but the truth is that they cannot find the right job in the United Kingdom.
When one talks about design, people often instinctively think of textiles or fashion. This is an industry that I know something about, and it is a fact that after five years of qualifying, more than 60 per cent. of people trained in textile design are either working overseas or for foreign companies. I accept that that is a difficult industry, that fashions change rapidly and that cheap labour is used. We know that from debates on the multi-fibre arrangement, and so on.
There are two types of company in this area. One is design oriented and will produce the goods that it thinks people want, and the other is price oriented. It makes what the manufacturer needs. If jobs are not available in manufacturing for the people with the skills that I have described, there should be opportunity elsewhere, as near to the general public as possible. I am talking about the retail side. People with such qualifications should consider becoming buyers in our major department stores. In that way they could educate the public to the sort of designs that they want to produce.
I see little evidence of the people I have described going into that sector. However, I want to talk about design as a whole. People will say that the recession is the main reason for this problem. It is a factor, but it is not the main one. The truth is that four years ago this trend was obvious. I am talking not about thousands of jobs, but about a few hundred each year. Those jobs could so easily be placed in our own industry. It is not sufficient for one or two large companies to be interested and involved.
The whole of British industry and commerce should be alerted to this situation. Why should not smaller businesses be informed of the value of obtaining the sort of talent I have described, so that they can enter new markets with new products that have an appeal that has never before been understood? Our competitors understand the importance of design. That is why they are attracting many of our graduates overseas. Once abroad, they help to produce appealing goods aimed at the Western European market. They should be here, using the skills learnt here—subsidised by the Bitish taxpayer under our education system—to create more jobs within the United Kingdom.
Design is not just to do with textiles and fashion, although that is an important area. It stretches across the whole of industry, from cars to bulldozers, from domestic products of all kinds to packaging. It is not restricted to food. We neglect that fact at our peril.
294 I am asking the Minister for some proof that there will be a closer relationship between college and industry. We all know that teachers are a valuable commodity in any nation. I do not wish to be derogatory when I say that design schools are there to train designers and award degrees. They do not have the expertise to sell the graduate products to an investment industry that often holds a completely different concept of design. These schools cannot educate and enlighten the vision of industry.
I accept that many schools in Britain approach industry and encourage a liaison in respect of employment. But I am not satisfied that the effect so far achieved is sufficient. I ask the Minister to give a lead. He should consider the possibility of setting up a think tank. There may be one already, but perhaps it is not functioning on all cylinders. We must find ways and means of solving the problem. We must produce ideas to fill this vacuum so that we can place people with the skills that I have described. I know that the Royal College of Art will play its part.
We have a Minister responsible for smaller businesses. I am sure that if my remarks are drawn to his attention, he will respond, because like me, he was in the Whip's Office, so he must be a nice chap. I sincerely hope that my comments will be brought to his attention.
The Budget contained many concessions which Conservative Members welcomed, such as financial inducements for people to start up in business. Is not this an area to which more attention should be paid? I know that in desperation, many young designers started their own businesses, with without the backing of people with other expertise. Many did not survive for long. It is a shame that they were not put in touch with existing businesses, even those on a small scale, so that they could have had a far greater chance of success.
According to The Sunday Times of 19 July, the Government are already moving in this direction in a different way, in that there is to be a merger between the NEB and the National Research and Development Corporation. I hope that that is not a leak, but I am told that it is to be called the British Technology Group. The Sunday Times went on to say that the group
will give much needed new blood to British inventiveness and new products. It will be run much more like a private company, concerning itself with profit. …The Cabinet is very concerned about the need for industrial research to be linked to practical projects which will be money-spinners.I welcome that kind of approach, and I want that policy to be extended to the areas that I have described. It is no good having new products without this dimension, which I think would come under the heading of "sales appeal". It is equally as important as quality. Whether we like it or not, we live in an advertising-oriented world. For that reason, if for no other, the importance of the matters that I have raised should be understood.
The House is often accused of discussing immediate problems and allowing them to overtake everything else. When one thinks of the past few weeks, that is perfectly understandable. But it is no excuse for not looking to the future. I have an unshakeable belief in the future of the United Kingdom and indeed in British industry. I believe that it can face up to the challenges of the future and the competition that will be there. We have the people with the ingenuity, the skills and the enterprise to do that. For the sake of jobs—and they matter to all of us—we certainly do not want to make the mistakes that we made in the past.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Industry (Mr. Michael Marshall)It is a particular pleasure to reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Mr. Fox). As ever, he brings to our deliberations his Yorkshire good sense on a day when perhaps all of us are aware of the particular enjoyment that we get out of good news from Yorkshire, in this particular instance from Headingley. It is also a tribute to my hon. Friend that he has attracted the support of my hon. Friends the Members for Dudley, West (Mr. Blackburn) and Luton, West (Mr. Carlisle), who have been present to hear his remarks.
I particularly thank my hon. Friend for providing this opportunity to discuss a matter that we see as one of the key elements in the Government's drive to encourage this country's industrial revival. Clearly, without a thriving industrial base we have little hope of achieving the level of economic recovery that is essential to our future wellbeing. It is clear that much more effective use must be made of design and designers to help re-establish that industrial base.
In responding to my hon. Friend, I should say at the outset that he raised a number of issues of great significance. In his submission tonight, there is a good deal upon which one would wish to ponder. I shall, however, take the opportunity to pick up some of the points that he made.
My hon. Friend singled out, for example, the work of the Royal College of Art. I am happy to tell him that the gist as a result of the discussions that he has had has been brought to my Department's attention and I shall myself be visiting the Royal College of Art to follow up some of the matters that he has initiated. I am grateful to him for that.
I wish to touch upon some of the criticisms that my hon. Friend mentioned. I think that we are all aware of some of the drawbacks, the failures and the gaps which have to be filled. Before doing so, however, perhaps I may pick up my hon. Friend's remark about the integration of the National Enterprise Board and the NRDC. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said yesterday in reply to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Surrey, North-West (Mr. Grylls), bringing the two organisations together should enable them to carry out their existing functions more effectively and economically, and it was typical that my hon. Friend should see this as part of the mainstream in discussing this important question.
It is important that design should be properly understood. It is not just a matter of the aesthetic qualities of the finished product, nor is it just a matter of the technological and functional aspects of the product, although clearly both form essential parts of the whole. Design is involved in the whole cycle from the moment a product is conceived to its successful establishment in the market place.
The cycle begins with the original concept and includes the prototype, testing and development stages, identification of the market, modification to meet market requirements, setting up the production line and finally getting the product on to the market at the right price. It involves designing to standards, whether set by this country or by overseas countries—a point to which I shall return later. It also involves designing for efficiency and economy of production and designing for the best use of modern techniques and materials.
296 This is, without question, the job of industry. But it is also the Government's task, and one that we accept, to create the best possible climate for this to happen, and that is what my hon. Friend was urging on us tonight. There is no part of the process that I have just defined in which the Government are not already actively involved in providing assistance either themselves or through bodies that they fund or otherwise support. I should like to touch on a few of the key areas.
The manufacturing advisory service, which is operated for the Department of Industry by the Production Engineering Research Association, provides a service to small and medium sized businesses to help them with their manufacturing problems. The service provides advice on manufacturing techniques and equipment appropriate to a project. It includes value analysis, quality assurance, computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacture, the use of mini-computers and microprocessors, production and stock control and many other manufacturing activities.
The microelectronics applications project was introduced in 1978 in response to widespread concern that British companies were slower than their overseas competitors to see the scope for improving performance offered by microelectronics. Substantial improvements are possible in every sector of manufacturing industry, whether by enhancing existing products, maintaining a more effective control over the manufacturing process or by streamlining and improving administrative control. MAP's objectives are, therefore, to raise significantly the national awareness of the potential of microelectronics; to increase substantially the supply of people trained in microelectronic skills; to help firms to establish the relevance of microelectronics to their business; and to improve the rate of application of microelectronics in firms' products and processes, particularly by first-time users.
Another key area is the work of the Computer-Aided Design Centre. This promotes the use of CAD techniques to achieve the maximum improvement in productivity and profitability in the engineering industries. A system of computers is available for use in collaboration with industry for project work and application development as well as for productive use. Data links to other systems in various parts of the country provide a wide range of applications facilities. A close working relationship with industrial, university and research users creates an effective means of bringing research results quickly into industrial use. The centre often forms joint projects with industrial partners which not only reduces costs to individual firms but allows the centre to market systems on an industry-wide basis. A consultancy service is available to industrial companies embarking on the use of computers in engineering design and manufacture.
All this meets in a wider sense much of what my hon. Friend was discussing, and particularly when he spoke about small businesses, because it is aimed at keeping the manufacturer and the designer abreast of technological developments over a broad field, for businesses large and small. There is a great temptation to carry on using traditional methods and materials and thus, as my hon. Friend said in the case of textiles, sometimes to fail to gain the advantages offered by technological advances. New materials such as composites or advanced plastics, new products and new processes, can allow a designer to rethink the entire constructional process, because the main 297 advantages usually stem not from a replacement of new for old but from a radical reappraisal in the light of new materials and processes.
The good, technologically up-to-date designer can frequently help to save energy in the manufacturing process, reduce the number of parts needed, improve productivity, and so decrease the cost of the product. Radical design can also enhance the product from a user point of view; for example, one of the objectives of car redesigns is to save weight and improve fuel economy by the use of plastics and composites as well as by the use of microelectronic engine and fuel control, combined with improvements in aerodynamics and greater knowledge of how internal combustion engines work.
Examples such as this stress the multi-disciplinary skills needed by the designer. How can this technological awareness be created and how can designers keep themselves up to date in the face of the information explosion?
One very important technique, which my Department is actively encouraging, is the use of on-line interrogation of computer data banks and data bases. Specialised data bases carry up-to-the-minute bibliographic information on technological developments; and data banks, often created by research associations and publicly sponsored laboratories, provide the latest data for design engineers. Many of these data bases can be examined remotely from the designer's own office. Within Europe, the Euronet data network offers over 250 individual data bases to users within the Community. The designer can gain access to databanks on almost every aspect of technology and can use comprehensive databases which will keep him informed of the technological developments in which he is interested.
As developments in information technology reduce the hard and software costs of on-line searching, we hope many more designers will be taking advantage of this cost-effective method of keeping in touch with technological advances and of gaining access to the latest design information and data. These are, of course, the essential ingredients to the incremental and radical product innovations which help improve industrial competitiveness and win new markets.
§ Mr. John G. Blackburn (Dudley, West)Does my hon. Friend agree that the House is in the debt of my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Mr. Fox) for raising this important matter tonight, and that it will be pleased to hear a Minister talking about engineering skills, which are the lifeblood of this country? Will my hon. Friend take on board the thought that perhaps the answer lies in the Finneston report, which states that in this country engineering is a less popular occupation than male modelling?
§ Mr. MarshallThere is a lot in what my hon. Friend has said. He may find that we shall make a statement on Finnieston before the House rises for the Summer Recess.
I mentioned earlier the need to design for the international market and to incorporate international specification standards at an early stage. Too many United Kingdom products have been built to the narrow specifications of major United Kingdom purchasers both in the public and the private sectors. It is for this reason that we are interested in a sensible public sector purchasing 298 policy. Public sector purchasers should use the influence their purchases give them to help develop design technology and improve the international competitiveness of their suppliers.
In the past there have been too many instances of products not satisfying international standards. This was because the manufacturer had not paid attention at the design stage to the need to comply with international standards and regulations. To some extent, this technical barrier to trade will be overcome as European Commission directives requiring manufacture to European standards come into force in this country. That, incidentally, is one of the arguments about membership of the Community.
As I said earlier, design is not just a question of the outward appearance of a product. Beauty may be only skin deep, but good design goes much deeper. From the original concept onwards the designer should play an integral part in the process of development and manufacture of a product. This means that we need good designers. The key to this is education. My hon. Friend spent a good deal of his time tonight on that aspect, and I hope that he will feel that what we are doing is much in accordance with what he was urging upon us.
At one time we could rely on the apprenticeship schemes to provide the skilled practical engineering designers we needed. But, as Sir Kenneth Corfield pointed out in his report on product design, we are now increasingly reliant on universities, polytechnics and colleges to provide our future designers. I should like particularly to single out the work of the Design Council for which we see an important role, and which is sponsored and financially supported by the Department of Industry. This is the principal means by which the Government are active in this area. I have had several opportunities to study its work at first hand, and it is evident that the council has been vigorously persuading and encouraging the authorities, particularly those responsible for higher education, to develop courses on all aspects of design and also to improve the content of existing courses, redirecting them to match current industrial needs.
Partly as a result of the council's efforts, there are now nearly 1,000 courses in design available in the United Kingdom including short courses and ones aimed at particular sectors of industry. The schools design prize was launched in 1976 with sponsorship at first from GEC and now from Rolls-Royce, and has been a considerable success. The council set up a working party under Professor Keith-Lucas to examine design education at secondary level. The report was published in September 1980 and distributed to all secondary schools. It has stimulated considerable support. The council, with a grant from the Department of Industry's industry education unit, prepares audio-visual aids for teachers of design in secondary schools. The council also organises conferences and seminars on design education topics which are well respected.
But education in design has another aspect. It is not just a matter of providing the right courses for prospective designers. Both management and customer need to be educated also.
Through regular exhibitions and displays at its design centres—for example, a recent one included the Metro and the Escort—by publicising the advantages of good design through such means as the design index and the annual awards, by publishing books and magazines, the Design 299 Council is gradually improving customer awareness of the aesthetic, ergonomic and ultimate financial benefits that derive from products that are well designed from start to finish.
My hon. Friend was right also to point out that we are not talking about the traditional patterns of china and glass, important though they are. He will no doubt have seen this year's design awards at the Design Council, which included a wide range of products, including, for example, the latest in pneumatic pumps. That is indicative of the kind of realism he was urging upon us.
This, of course, is the kind of work the council set out to do in 1944 when, under the title "Council of Industrial Design", it was first established. However, in 1972 it was asked to add engineering design to its remit. In particular, it was faced with the task of impressing the management of engineering businesses with the vital importance of the design function in engineering activity. Since then the council has broadened its annual awards to include a wide range of particular industrial products.
300 The design advisory service was established in 1976 as a subscription club providing a diagnostic and advice service to members. It now has over 450 members who are assisted with analysis of product design and design management problems and are advised on suitable sources of outside expertise which can provide the solution.
Much of the Design Council's work reflects the overall interest and concern in my Department for the importance of design; and this process continues and develops. For example, next year, in information technology year, we look to the Design Council to play a full part in promoting information technology. It is in that sense of a continuing and important activity that I greatly welcome my lion. Friend's contribution in raising this key issue tonight.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Adjourned according at fourteen minutes to One o'clock.