§ 12. Mr. Durantasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will make a statement on the progress of the Government's special measures for small businesses.
§ Mr. MacGregorWe have introduced now nearly 100 measures in order to improve the working environment for small businesses, covering, among other things, taxation, finance, planning, premises, employment legislation, reduction in administrative burdens and advisory services. There continues to be a substantial take-up of many schemes.
§ Mr. DurantI congratulate my hon. Friend on the many measures that the Government have introduced to help small businesses, but is he aware of the importance of small businesses to the Reading and Thames Valley area? Is he further aware of the importance of the help that should be forthcoming—although it is not always—from the major banks? Does he agree that local government should keep rates low in order to help small businesses?
§ Mr. MacGregorI am aware of the importance of small businesses in my hon. Friend's area and in most local economies. However, substantial improvements have been made in recent years in the way in which the banks respond. The loan guarantee scheme has also helped small businesses. It is important that the range of advisory services for small businesses should be expanded so that business men can get the right advice. The small firms information service has expanded greatly recently and my hon. Friend may be interested to know that I am considering the opening of a small firms information service office in his area.
§ Mr. SpriggsIs the Minster aware that two firms in St. Helens have recently closed, adding many men and women to the already high number of unemployed? Will he examine the situation in St. Helens and Merseyside carefully and see what he can do about granting special development area status to St. Helens?
§ Mr. MacGregorAs the hon. Gentleman will know, we have considered the grant of assisted area status, but there need to be exceptional reasons for changing the decisions announced in July. I am conscious of the role that small firms can play in the St. Helens area, in view of the reduction in the number of those employed in the larger firms. The St. Helens' Enterprise Trust's achievement in finding new jobs is one of the big success stories, and I shall visit it shortly to see for myself.
§ Mr. GryllsWill my hon. Friend discuss with his colleagues the possibility of greater discrimination in favour of small firms in the procurement policies of nationalised industries and of central and local goverment? I am sure that my hon. Friend realises that that would greatly help them.
§ Mr. MacGregorI am aware of the importance of that area of the economy to small firms, but it is a difficult area in which to proceed. I know of my hon. Friend's interest in the subject. I have recently been to the United States of America to see what the Americans are doing. I shall continue to take a close interest in the matter. Indeed, the Department is reviewing it.
§ Mr. John GarrettDoes the Minister agree that the current unprecedented wave of collapse of small 726 businesses shows that the Government's cosmetic measures cannot make up for the basic lack of demand caused by the Government's economic policies? That is the crucial factor about small businesses. All these little measures to aid the setting up of small businesses are as nothing when compared with the lack of demand on which small businesses depend.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe hon. Gentleman forgets that we are living in an acute world-wide recession, as I discovered when I went to the United States. He will know that there is a tremendous amount of constructive buoyancy in small firms at present. Last year, 15,000 more firms started up in business than went out of existence. That is an indication of that buoyancy. If the hon. Gentleman examines the article today in the Financial Times, he will see a further very good example of how it is happening.