Small Businesses (Hansard, 23 November 1994)

§ 5. Mr. Jamieson
To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many small businesses were set up in Devon and Cornwall last year; and how many went out of business.

§ Mr. Ian Taylor
The figures for VAT registration and deregistration in 1993 are not yet available, and they would be the best guide. Commercial sources show a decrease in company failures in the south-west during the first nine months of 1994 compared with the same period in 1993.

§ Mr. Jamieson
Is the hon. Gentleman aware that in Devon and Cornwall since the mid-1980s 21,000 people have lost their jobs in defence-related industries, many of them small businesses, with a total loss of £500 million to the local economy? When will the hon. Gentleman announce new measures to assist small businesses in Devon and Cornwall, and when will he take the interests of the south-west seriously?

§ Mr. Taylor
The hon. Gentleman should know that we do take the interests of the south-west seriously, as any visit to the Government office in the south-west will show. In addition, the help that we are giving through Business Links particularly helps smaller companies in periods of adjustment or expansion. We are working with 585 the defence industries and through the European Union's Konver programme. However, the hon. Gentleman might think closely about the Labour party's policy towards defence as that would be the biggest job destruction programme going.

§ Sir Peter Emery
Does my hon. Friend agree that unemployment in east Devon, as in most of Devon, is among the lowest in the United Kingdom and that the investment of overseas companies in Devon and Cornwall is high and based on small industries which have grown in order to attract such investment? Will my hon. Friend do everything possible to continue the support that we have had from the Department of Trade and Industry to ensure that such investment continues?

§ Mr. Taylor
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for being positive, which is in the interests of the region. The Government are giving considerable help in the form of DTI assisted area status, particularly for Plymouth where the inward investment office will be. As I have said, there is the status 2 objective for the European Union, particularly for the urban areas, the Konver 1 and 2 programmes and Business Links seeking to ensure that small companies, to which my right hon. Friend referred, receive the best possible advice. That is a story of considerable assistance; if Opposition Members did more to highlight it, they might provide companies with more incentives to move into the area.

§ Mr. Bell
That is a story of complacency rather than assistance. When the hon. Gentleman talks about the south-west and the small business man, will he refer to the famous memorandum of the famous John Maples, which states clearly that privatisation has not been popular and that the small business man in particular feels let down? That view was immediately echoed by the hon. Members for Upminster (Sir N. Bonsor), for Bridlington (Mr. Townsend), for Bexleyheath (Mr. Townsend), for Aldridge-Brownhills (Mr. Shepherd) and for Dover (Mr. Shaw). None of those Back-Bench Members supports the Minister, and Mr. Maples does not support the Minister, so who does?

§ Mr. Taylor
The Minister is not looking for support for something that he is confident that he is doing right. That will be self-evident, and support will flow from the success of the economy, including that of the south-west. There is no question but that the south-west is benefiting from the Government's policies across the board, which have stimulated growth among smaller companies. All the figures now emerging from the banks show a rising number of business start-ups and an increase in the total stock of businesses in each of the first three quarters of this year. Those are the statistics. What I said earlier shows that we are also providing a framework for further support to allow those companies to grow from small into medium-sized businesses. That is actually rather good progress.

§ Mr. Streeter
Has my hon. Friend been able to assess the adverse impact on all small Devon and Cornwall businesses supplying goods and services to the dockyards if a future Labour Government were to comply with the policy of the Labour party conference and scrap Trident, thus destroying the dockyards?

§ Mr. Taylor
My hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Sutton (Mr. Streeter) has spoken up long and 586 loud in the interests of his constituents, and I know that they are now paying close attention to the support that the Government have given him. There is no doubt that Labour policy on defence, especially on Trident, would be devastating for people in and around the dockyards. Those problems would continue and get worse if ever a Labour Government came to power—which is one reason why people in the south-west would be well advised to read the Labour party's defence document, especially on Trident.