Grants (Hansard, 18 January 1989)

§ 16. Mr. Gill
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what plans he has to simplify the range and complexity of grants to trade and industry and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Atkins
The White Paper "DTI—the department for Enterprise" (Cm. 278), published in January 1988, outlines a number of changes in the grants available to business. They simplify the range and reduce the complexity of DTI grants.

§ Mr. Gill
I welcome that reply, but I ask my hon. Friend to consider that there is still a proliferation of grants, and that they represent an intervention in, and a distortion of, market forces. Does he agree that one man's grant is another man's tax burden?

§ Mr. Atkins
Many of my right hon. and hon. Friends have some sympathy with the point expressed by my hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow (Mr. Gill). However, where areas of exceptionally high social or industrial need have required assistance, Governments of all political persuasions have always provided grants to help. Only a day or two ago, we published the third reprint of a document relating to the enterprise initiative, which includes a further export initiative, as well as another item on managing for the 1990s—all of which clarify what is available under, for example, the enterprise initiative, which is being extremely well received by industry.

§ Mr. Hardy
Does the Minister accept that although the clarification to which he refers is commendable, the Government's lower priority for, and cuts in, regional aid have gone far enough, and that he should resist the blandishments of his marketeering hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow (Mr. Gill)?

§ Mr. Atkins
Although the hon. Gentleman makes well for his constituency a case with which I am familiar, he is wrong. We have said that we are committed to providing the same sort of money for the regions as we have in the past, and we hope to meet that objective.

§ Mr. William Powell
Does my hon. Friend accept that, notwithstanding the complexity of the grants for many people, they have proved of significant benefit to the assisted area of Corby during the last eight or nine years? They have contributed to reducing the unemployment level there from being among the highest in Europe, when the Conservative Government came to office, to the situation where, in not many months from now, it will be one of the lowest.

§ Mr. Atkins
My hon. Friend never fails to draw the right conclusions about the effort that has been put into Corby. It is a classic case of a town given a resource that was needed at the time, and which has since become very successful—so much so, that Corby has the common sense regularly to return a Conservative Member of Parliament. As long as Corby continues doing so, my hon. Friend will be able to represent its success story as often as may be necessary.

§ Mr. Pike
Will the Minister accept that a surprisingly high number of large firms and a considerable number of small firms do not know the sources of grants and assistance? Will the Government take urgent steps to 332 review that aspect yet again, to ensure that industry receives the help and assistance that is essential if the current balance of trade problem is to be reversed?

§ Mr. Atkins
In that case, the hon. Gentleman and his party cannot be critical of the advertising employed by the Department to get across exactly that message to the people who need to know it. If the hon. Gentleman, who I know to be an assiduous constituency Member, needs a telephone number or contact, he has only to tell me. I shall ensure that he is given one.