§ 1. Alistair Burt (North-East Bedfordshire)What recent representations she has received about unemployment in manufacturing industry in the eastern region; and if she will make a statement. [9547]
§ The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Patricia Hewitt)I have received several representations. Manufacturing employment in the region is falling, as it is in most industrial countries, but unemployment in the region is down, and there are more people in work in the east of England than ever before.
§ Alistair BurtI thank the right hon. Lady for her answer. Is she aware that many people in my constituency and in the eastern region as a whole see manufacturing as the silent casualty of the past few years? With the sector officially in recession, unemployment rising and Government measures such as the climate change levy beginning to bite, what personal targets is she setting to obtain some relief for manufacturing in this year's budgetary round? How does she intend to judge her success or failure on behalf of manufacturing when the Budget measures are announced?
§ Ms HewittManufacturing in every industrialised country is going through difficult times. Indeed, in the past three months, manufacturing output fell in Japan by 4 per cent., in the United States by almost 2 per cent., in the eurozone by well over 1 per cent., but in the United Kingdom by only 1 per cent. Although many of our manufacturing workers and businesses are having a difficult time in the global economic slowdown, we are better placed in Britain, as a result of the policies that the Government have been pursuing, to withstand the global 986 downturn—as the International Monetary Fund confirmed just a couple of days ago. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor and I will continue to work with manufacturing industry and workers to ensure that more of our manufacturing companies become and remain highly productive and competitive in the world economy.
§ Mr. Gareth R. Thomas (Harrow, West)Does the Secretary of State agree that one way to encourage even more employment opportunities in manufacturing in the eastern region, and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, is to encourage the development of new technologies such as renewable energy? If so, what further action is she taking to encourage businesses such as Shell and BP that have significant manufacturing businesses in renewables overseas to set up manufacturing plant here?
§ Ms HewittMy hon. Friend is right. My hon. Friend the Minister for Industry and Energy and I have been working closely with those companies and others to encourage them to expand their renewable energy production in the United Kingdom. We are investing more than £250 million in renewable energy. We have created an incentive in the exemption of renewable energy from the climate change levy to encourage businesses to obtain more of their electricity from renewable sources. In the eastern region generally, we have the enormous advantage of Cambridge and other world-class universities, which are working increasingly closely with business and the regional development agency to ensure that the region is a centre of successful, growing high-tech manufacturing.
§ Mr. Nick Gibb (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)What does the Secretary of State intend to do about over-regulation, which is so damaging to manufacturing industry in the eastern region and elsewhere in Britain, and how should we measure her progress in that?
§ Ms HewittI know very well that when Opposition Members talk about over-regulation, most of the time they are talking about measures to give better protection to workers, including the minimum wage, which they opposed in the last Parliament, and measures on working time, including the right to four weeks' holiday. We are working closely with business and the Better Regulation Task Force to deal with red tape problems when they arise and to reduce the burden of administrative costs on business. I remind the hon. Gentleman that, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, we have less product market regulation than the rest of the OECD, and that Arthur Andersen found in a worldwide study earlier this year that this is the best place in the world to start and grow a business.