§ 3. Mr. John MacDougall (Central Fife) (Lab)What measures her Department is taking to increase the UK's manufacturing industry productivity; and if she will make a statement. [177753]
§ The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Patricia Hewitt)We are working with manufacturing industry, the trade unions and others in all the areas identified in the Government's manufacturing strategy, which is, of course, the first UK industrial strategy for more than 30 years, to help UK manufacturing industry to increase productivity. For example, the 389 manufacturing advisory service has already proved a real success, particularly with smaller manufacturers, generating a total value added of more than £53 million.
§ Mr. MacDougallDoes the Secretary of State agree that prospects for UK manufacturing industry are improving?
§ Ms HewittI certainly do, and I warmly welcome the fact that all recent business surveys of manufacturing have been positive. The report by the Engineering Employers Federation on Tuesday showed the fastest rise in orders and output in British industry for seven years. That encouragement from the manufacturers themselves is confirmed by figures released yesterday by National Statistics, which show a much bigger than expected increase in output between March and April. That does not mean there are not challenges for manufacturing industry, but the industry is much more confident about the future.
§ Mr. John Wilkinson (Ruislip-Northwood) (Con)If the prospects of British industry are so good, can the right hon. Lady explain why the United Kingdom's position in the international league of competitiveness has dropped dramatically? Why was the United Kingdom's rate of increase in productivity during the first five years of her Government half of what it had been during the last five years of Tory government? Is the answer not something to do with the huge extra tax and regulatory burden and the fact that British industry is paying an extra £7 billion a year in taxation?
§ Ms HewittI simply do not accept the hon. Gentleman's criticisms. In spite of his personal commitment to manufacturing, his comments come ill from a member of the party whose Government wrecked a large part of British manufacturing, particularly in the recession of the early 1980s, but throughout nearly 20 years of neglecting, ignoring, talking down and doing their best to undermine it. Over the past seven years, we have seen a significant improvement in Britain's productivity position compared with those of Germany, in particular, and France and the United States. We will go on working with manufacturing to improve productivity, particularly through our investment in science and innovation, which the Conservative party completely neglected and underfunded during its years in government.
§ Tony Cunningham (Workington) (Lab)New Balance, a company in my constituency that makes running shoes, has hugely increased its productivity through investment in training and, in particular, in multi-skilling. So successful has it become that it has been granted the Queen's Award for Industry. Should we not learn from best practice?
§ Ms HewittMy hon. Friend makes an extremely important point, and I am delighted, through him, to add my congratulations to New Balance on its excellent achievement of the Queen's Award for Industry. That is a superb example of how wrong people are to say that there is no future for British manufacturing and that 390 everything will go off to low-wage countries. The truth is, even in a country with high wages and proud of it, if management and employees work closely together and invest in skills and in the right technology, Britain can continue to have some of the best manufacturers in the world.