Industrial Strategy: Policy (Hansard, 9 November 1992)

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, the Government have a clear industrial strategy. Put simply, it is a long-term commitment to help British industry succeed in world markets. That means creating the climate within which industry can thrive and ensuring that the policies of both the DTI and the rest of government take the needs of business into account. No single publication spells this out in terms of detailed proposals. It is a deep-rooted concern which informs all our decision-making.

§ Lord Benson
My Lords, I am grateful for that Answer to my Question, but I am bound to say that it has confused me a little about what the situation is. I wonder whether the noble Baroness is aware that on 7th October the President of the Board of Trade is reported to have said that the Government should have an industrial strategy and gave some details of what he proposed. My question is: is that a private strategy of the President of the Board of Trade, is it one which the Government have discarded or is it one which they propose to adopt?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, obviously the strategy of the President of the Board of Trade is not a private strategy. At the Department of Trade and Industry we are responsible for the future of industry and I can assure your Lordships that that strategy is understood and endorsed by the Government.

Lord Bruce of Donington
My Lords, is it not a fact that the industrial strategy of the Government is not to have one?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I said very clearly in my first Answer to this Question that we have a very clear industrial strategy: it is a long-term commitment to help British industry succeed in world markets. I note from previous debates that there has been some question about non-intervention in industry. We will intervene on behalf of industry and we have certainly improved our lines of communica-tion with industry.

§ Lord Peyton of Yeovil
My Lords, I am not quite sure to what extent my noble friend's colleagues in the Department of Trade and Industry are avid readers of your Lordships' proceedings. If they are not, I wonder whether my noble friend will do her utmost to persuade them to read and then to read again the very pointed but short speech that was made by the noble Lord, Lord Benson, in your Lordships' House last week.

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I am delighted to tell the noble Lord that that we have already done.

§ Lord Callaghan of Cardiff
My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that the words that she read out sound more like a slogan than a strategy and it is a slogan that we have heard with every single change of government policy over the past 13 years? Could she please tell us what are the latest evidences of this "industrial strategy"?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving me the opportunity to quote some of the evidence of the success of our past policy. Output has risen since the start of the year. In the 1980s, output growth was the same as that of Germany and faster than that of France or Italy, while productivity grew faster than in any other major industrial country. Since 1981, output is nearly one-quarter higher, investment is one-third higher and productivity is well over one-half higher. If it is a slogan, it must be a pretty effective slogan.

§ Lord Holme of Cheltenham
My Lords, does the commitment to which the noble Baroness has referred in her Answer extend to the question of training? Given the importance of training to British industry and to the refreshment of our skills base on which our competitiveness depends, may I ask the noble Baroness whether she and her colleagues—both the President of the Board of Trade and those at the Department of Employment—will intervene with the Treasury in the current spending round to make sure that training is not cut?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, the noble Lord knows better than I that we must wait for the Autumn Statement for that answer. Perhaps I may simply say that we at the Department of Trade and Industry work very closely with the Department of Employment and with the Department of Education, because that is where the whole issue starts.

§ Lord Dormand of Easington
My Lords, is the Minister aware that perhaps the greatest failure of this Government has been their inability to halt the decline in manufacturing industry? As the noble Baroness has mentioned the President of the Board of Trade, does she recall him saying in a speech that he would intervene before every meal every day? Can we not have something more specific about intervention in manufacturing industry as that will certainly be crucial over the next few years?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I must, unfortunately, disagree with the noble Lord. The United Kingdom volume share of world trade in manufactures is estimated to have risen over the past three years. Perhaps best evidence of intervention is in his own part of the country where, by leading the fight for inward investment, we have returned to that area of manufacturing which will match the best in the world.

§ Lord Mackay of Ardbrecknish
My Lords, will my noble friend reflect on the history of the past 40 or 50 years in this country which is littered with industrial strategies which have gone quite wrong? Is it not the case that over the past 40 or 50 years governments of all parties have proved much more successful in 6 identifying sunset industries and pouring billions of pounds of taxpayers' money into them than in identifying the sunrise industries which have proved the basis for our success in manufacturing output in this country?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, it gives me great pleasure to agree with my noble friend. It is important that we are at the beginning of the cycle, not at the end.

§ Lord Ezra
My Lords, does not the noble Baroness agree that the noble Lord, Lord Benson, has raised a crucial issue? There is a widening debate on the question of industrial strategy. Today in Harrogate the CBI is talking about this issue with four Ministers present. Would it not be desirable from the public's point of view if in due course the Government were to prepare a White Paper on all the issues which are now arising in connection with industrial strategy?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, the noble Lord raises a good point in that the CBI is indeed meeting today and will be addressed by my right honourable friend the President of the Board of Trade tomorrow. I shall certainly convey the noble Lord's remarks, but what is really important is that we keep working closely with industry to encourage growth.

§ Lord Mellish
My Lords, does not the noble Baroness understand that the nearly 3 million unemployed people in this country are not a bit impressed with what she has just said about there being an industrial strategy because they know it is not true? Can we expect therefore on Thursday, when the Chancellor speaks, to hear about an industrial strategy?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I would simply repeat that I cannot go ahead of the Autumn Statement.

§ Lord Campbell of Alloway
My Lords, without anticipating the Autumn Statement, is my noble friend in a position to comment in any way on the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Benson, on 4th November, which commanded respect and attention from many noble Lords in the House?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, it gives me great pleasure to say that there was much in the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Benson, with which all of us at the DTI absolutely agreed.

§ Lord Stoddart of Swindon
My Lords, as the Government clearly—

The Earl of Halsbury
My Lords, surely the—

§ The Lord Privy Seal (Lord Wakeham)
My Lords, I think that we have time for both noble Lords' questions.

§ Lord Stoddart of Swindon
My Lords, as the Government clearly do not have an industrial strategy, may I recommend that they now dust down the report of your Lordships' Select Committee on Overseas Trade of 1985 which proposed an industrial 7 strategy which is just as relevant today as it was then? That would help the Government very much. May I recommend that the Government do that?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for his recommendation but I would say that we in government firmly believe that the world has moved well forward since 1985.

The Earl of Halsbury
My Lords, surely the relevant question is not what is the Government's policy but what are they doing about implementing it?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I shall restrict my answers to what the DTI is doing about implementing it, which includes opening up markets, removing barriers to trade, providing the best possible service to exporters, making constant efforts to attract inward investment, encouraging wealth-creating exploitation of publicly financed research and development, restructuring our department so that we are closer to industry and encouraging industrial secondees to join us so that the conversations are absolutely relevant.

§ Lord Mackie of Benshie
My Lords, I have been most impressed by the replies of the noble Baroness. We have made enormous advances in production, the economy is booming and the Government have done marvellous work. Can she explain why this has led to our being £15 billion in the red in the balance of payments?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I do know always to be nervous when praised. We can still have growth in manufacturing industry. We can see enormous growth and improvement while still not having yet solved our balance of payments problems which must be high on our list of priorities.

§ Lord Clinton-Davis
My Lords, does the noble Baroness recognise that it is not enough just to read the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Benson? It is important to digest it, which clearly the department has not done. Is she not aware that what she has told the House today bears little relationship to the reality that surrounds the lives of some 3 million unemployed? Is she not aware that under her Government's tutelage we have lost 4 per cent. of our output, 7 per cent. of our manufacturing industry, 11 per cent. of our engineering industry and 30 per cent. of investment in manufacturing industry? Is that a record of which she can be seriously proud?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, had the noble Lord asked his question earlier I would have quoted some of the changes in Germany. There has been restructuring of industry throughout the world. Unemployment is a major issue. Productivity makes companies competitive. We have to live with that fact and we must make sure that it is dealt with. Perhaps I may say as a final remark on the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Benson, that we believe that his suggestion that we should behave like a football manager and manage from the side is something that we are already doing.