HC Deb 12 January 1994 vol 235 cc159-60
1. Mr. Moss

To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many business links he will be opening in the next six months; and if he will make a statement.

The President of the Board of Trade and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Mr. Michael Heseltine)

My Department is promoting the development of a national network of business links to provide a one-stop shop for support services for business. Three business links are now open, in Birmingham, Leicester and Congleton. By the middle of 1994, 30 will be open. My objective is to create a national network of around 200 outlets within the next two to three years.

Mr. Moss

Does my right hon. Friend accept that the business community considers his business links scheme as one of the most important initiatives to come out of his Department to promote manufacturing output and import substitution and to create new jobs? Will he assure the House that every effort will be made to speed the implementation of the one-stop shops to cover the whole country? Will he also encourage independent agencies, such as the Greater Peterborough training and enterprise council, which covers my constituency, which are setting up their own initiatives as a first step to achieving business link status?

Mr. Heseltine

I am grateful for the kind remarks of my hon. Friend. We will do all that we can to persuade the various agencies that are coming together to form the one-stop shops to move as quickly as is reasonable. There is one important caveat: we are determined to preserve the quality of the new services that are available and we would not wish to sacrifice quality for the number of units open.

Mr. Nigel Griffiths

In July 1992, the President of the Board of Trade announced his plan to set up one-stop shops. He then told the House in December 1992 about a major new strategy to establish one-stop shops and said that it was "critical that the 15"—one-stop shops— are seen as pace setters".—[Official Report, 3 December 1992; Vol. 215, c. 414–17.] He boasted that he would revolutionise the delivery of support services for business."—[Official Report, 15 April 1993; Vol. 222, c. 715.] On 17 February, he told the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington) that he had had 57 bids to run those shops. On 17 March, he told the hon. Member for Langbaurgh (Mr. Bates) that he had a shortlist of 20 and on 15 April, he told the hon. Member for Dover (Mr. Shaw) that there would be 23 one-stop shops while on 19 May, he told the hon. Member for Taunton (Mr. Nicholson) that about 50 would be created. After all that, why has he opened only three in 16 months? Why have London and other parts of the country been neglected? Why has the right hon. Gentleman achieved so little despite four press releases, seven written parliamentary answers and a boastful statement in the House? Why is he even less effective than his party leader?

Mr. Heseltine

I am sorry to disappoint the hon. Gentleman, but I have not opened any one-stop shop. That is a matter for local initiative by local people. That is where the decision and the initiatives come from and that is the pace at which we can move.