HC Deb 01 August 1984 vol 65 cc328-30
7. Mr. Hickmet

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what response he has had to the consultation period on the review of regional policy.

Mr. Norman Lamont

The long consultation period has been welcomed, and the Government have received over 500 submissions within the deadline specified in the White Paper.

Mr. Hickmet

When will my hon. Friend be able to make a definitive statement on regional aid? When he makes that statement, will he bear in mind the very bad effect of the coal strike upon confidence in my constituency and the desirability of that area receiving the best possible designation on the new regional map? Will he bear in mind in particular that we were unable to attract Nissan, which many believe was because we did not have special development area status?

Mr. Lamont

We hope to make an announcement in the autumn on our conclusions on regional policy.

With regard to my hon. Friend's area and others, we shall take all the circumstances into account.

Mr. Park

Will the Minister say when the west midlands will know whether its greatly worsened situation under this Government will be recognised?

Mr. Lamont

As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Glanford and Scunthorpe (Mr. Hickmet), we hope to make an announcement in the autumn.

Mr. Cormack

Is my hon. Friend aware that many people in the west midlands believe that the area's problems are due mainly to the indiscriminate use of regional aid in other places in the past? Therefore, will he be extremely careful before he makes an announcement?

Mr. Lamont

We have received many similar representations from the west midlands. Because of the discrimination of regional policy against non-assisted areas, we have already reduced the area covered by the regional policy map. We shall bear in mind my hon. Friend's caution.

Mr. Dalyell

Given the problems of Bathgate—I thank the Minister for his courtesy in seeing us three times in the past six months—is there not a case for extending the advantages of Livingston development corporation to the rest of the Bathgate travel-to-work area?

Mr. Lamont

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman, as well as the House, will understand that I cannot reply immediately from the Dispatch Box, however difficult may be the situation in an area, to the different pleas that I hear from constituencies. The hon. Gentleman knows that I am giving careful consideration to the situation in his constituency.

Mr. Thurnham

Will my hon. Friend agree to consider carefully any new computer-drawn travel-to-work areas that may critically affect the assisted area status of towns such as Bolton?

Mr. Lamont

My hon. Friend knows that the travel-to-work areas are the responsibility of the Department of Employment. We will not be bound by the travel-to-work areas, designated or assisted areas, although they will be the main building blocks of the system.

Mr. Campbell-Savours

If the levels of regional assistance available in France, Italy and Spain are higher than those available to the northern region, especially Cumbria, how will it be possible for us to compete internationally for footloose industries? Does the Minister realise that at the moment we are winning nothing, that we are not gaining new industry and that we are failing in that area? Is he aware that we need the highest level of regional assistance in the northern region? Will he give some commitment to that from the Dispatch Box today?

Mr. Lamont

One of our most important considerations is the need to attract inward investment to this country, and we must provide a level of grant that enables us to do so. We have been very successful in attracting inward investment. There is more American investment here than in any other European country. We get more investment from Japan than do other countries in Europe. The hon. Gentleman is talking nonsense.

Mr. McQuarrie

My hon. Friend will be aware that the loss of assisted area status, particularly in areas such as Grampian and Banff and Buchan—my constituency—has had a serious effect on employment. When he is considering the new regional policy, will he take into consideration the amended travel-to-work areas that would give work to areas such as the ones that I have mentioned and therefore create further employment over a wide spectrum?

Mr. Lamont

I shall take that into account.

Mr. Geoffrey Robinson

The Minister must be aware from successive Question Times, when there has been the same interest from all parts of the House in his new proposals for regional policy, particularly in respect of the map, that it is not a terribly satisfactory procedure whereby the House is invited only to debate the decisions that he has taken. If that is to be the case, will the hon. Gentleman give us a clear undertaking, before the recess, that when we discuss the order specifying the new map he will arrange for the Government to take such steps as are necessary, by means of a business motion, to ensure that the debate is open-ended? Thus, hon. Members affected—nearly every hon. Member will be—will have the opportunity to debate the matter, which will not be the case if there is only a one and a half hour debate after 10 o'clock.

Mr. Lamont

The hon. Gentleman knows that the matters that he has raised are for the business managers, but I have said again and again that I well appreciate the huge interest in this subject. I have passed on that view strongly to my hon. Friends.