HC Deb 04 November 1996 vol 284 cc900-2
7. Mr. Fabricant

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he next plans to visit the far east to discuss bilateral trade. [284]

Mr. Hague

A Welsh Office-led trade delegation is due to visit Japan next March. Visits to Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines are also planned in the next 12 months.

Mr. Fabricant

Does my right hon. Friend think that he would have had as much success in attracting companies from the far east to Wales, and to Newport in particular, if employment law in the United Kingdom was determined not in Westminster and in Cardiff but in Brussels, as the Labour party would wish?

Mr. Hague

No, I do not. Britain's employment laws and flexible labour market are one of the attractive features of the United Kingdom for overseas investors, on top of a more advantageous tax system, an excellent industrial relations record and a Government who welcome free enterprise and investment. Added together, those factors mean that we are the most successful economy in Europe in attracting inward investment.

Mr. Wigley

Hon. Members in all parts of the House will agree that the WDA is a vital body in developing trade and industry with south-east Asia and elsewhere. Will the Secretary of State therefore say what on earth is going on in the WDA? The chief executive has apparently been transferred to Greenwich on a three-month sale-or-return basis, like some second team Manchester United footballer being transferred to York City. If Mr. Hartop is up to the job, should he not be working every hour available to get the jobs needed in west and north Wales? If he is not up to the job, why has he been given a three-month reprieve so that he can come back if he does not make it in Greenwich?

Mr. Hague

I can tell the hon. Gentleman what is going on in the WDA—it is having an extraordinarily successful year and an acting chief executive with 12 years' experience has been appointed during that period. I can also tell him—I shall in any case be announcing it in a written answer at 3.30 pm—that I am increasing the WDA's base programme for this financial year from £120 million to £157.1 million, which is an increase of £25 million in central Government provision and nearly £12 million in the receipts that the agency can generate. That is a tribute to its great success this year and to the extent of our commitment to the agency's work.

Mr. Llew Smith

Instead of prioritising a visit to the far east, will the Secretary of State give priority to keeping a commitment he gave to meeting the Heads of the Valley standing conference to discuss unemployment? Does he also realise that if he gave priority to that visit, the savings involved would help him to curb public expenditure?

Mr. Hague

I would consider any request for a meeting, but I am pleased to be able to say that unemployment has been falling throughout most parts of Wales for a long period—unemployment in Wales is now lower than in Germany—and that is a tremendous success. It is one of the things that has happened as a result of our success in attracting inward investment and encouraging home-grown companies to succeed in Wales, and that includes part of the valleys. I certainly want to consider all initiatives to continue that progress and will consider any requests for a meeting.

Mr. Ron Davies

The Secretary of State surprised us with that announcement of a winter supplementary estimate. As I understand it, he is proposing to restore to the WDA money taken in cuts imposed by his predecessor about two years ago. Perhaps he will confirm that he is announcing changes to the current year's provision rather than to next year's. Will he confirm a point put to him this afternoon—that he is now in direct conflict with the WDA, the board having told him that it cannot make the appropriate contribution to economic regeneration next year, in line with the requirements of his published strategic guidance? Is that not the ultimate political hypocrisy—-this afternoon, as on previous occasions, the Secretary of State publicly claiming credit for the work of the agency while privately conspiring to sabotage its future?

Mr. Hague

Only the hon. Gentleman could say that I was sabotaging the future of something when only a few minutes before, I had announced that I was increasing its budget by £37 million. I am sorry that I surprised him. Obviously I did and he did not have time to rewrite the whole of his question. I was talking about the current year with the figures I just announced. We shall come to next year's figures in my public expenditure statement next month.

I am certainly not in conflict with the board of the WDA. I work closely with the chairman and I had a constructive meeting with the whole board a few weeks ago, and there could not be any conflict about future year's programmes before we have decided what they are to be.