HC Deb 03 July 1997 vol 297 cc408-9
12. Mr. Ernie Ross

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will make a statement about her Department's Competitiveness UK initiatives. [5215]

Mrs. Beckett

On 4 June, I launched Competitiveness UK, a range of initiatives constituting a new partnership between government and business. I am planning a business summit at which I will publish an audit to provide an objective benchmark of the UK's performance in every factor of competitiveness.

Mr. Ross

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the speed with which she has moved to deal with the inherently weak economy which she has inherited. [Interruption.] What response has there been from business and companies to her initiatives?

Mrs. Beckett

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. The business community has responded warmly both to the initial statement and to the invitation to attend the summit. I heard a sedentary intervention from the Conservative Benches to the effect that that is what the previous Deputy Prime Minister used to do. That is not true. He used to issue propaganda documents intended to tell business what a good job that Government were doing. We intend to work with business to produce a document that we jointly agree will further the competitiveness of Britain. That is quite a different matter.

Mr. Ian Taylor

The right hon. Lady should not he so smug because, in claiming that the word "competitiveness" was invented after 1 May, she slights all those private sector companies that assisted in the previous Government's efforts to stimulate competitiveness in this country, particularly in the information and communication technology sector. Will she affirm that she intends, for example, to continue the foresight exercise, which the previous Government started and which is one of the great success stories of forward planning, to ensure that this country can compete in the key sectors of the global world economy?

Mrs. Beckett

I would not normally wish to be unkind to the hon. Gentleman, but, in view of his opening remarks, I have to say that I always thought that he had a degree in smugness. The notion that I would claim to have invented the word or, indeed, that I would tell British business how to be competitive is unfounded: I would not dream of doing such a thing.

Unlike the previous Government, we will also not simply instruct businesses about competitiveness or take credit for other people's achievements. We want a real partnership with business and we intend, through that partnership, to work to develop the foresight programme. As I am sure the hon. Gentleman will recall, I made it clear before the last general election that we did not disagree with some of the things that the previous Government had begun to do—under considerable urging from us—and that we would take forward such programmes and seek to build on and improve them.

Mr. Redwood

I am sure that the President of the Board of Trade would agree that, in this important work, it is crucial that every Minister should be seen to avoid any possible conflict of interest. Will she now tell the House, so that there is no doubt whatever, that the Minister for competitiveness has sold all his shares, cancelled all his options and severed all his business links with BP—otherwise industry will be worried about possible conflicts of interest?

Mrs. Beckett

First, my hon. Friend the Minister in the other place is not the Minister for competitiveness—I am—and he is pursuing these interests in Europe. Secondly, the matter that the right hon. Gentleman raises is one for the Nolan procedures. I do not know the details of the issue. I shall write to him about it.