Manufacturing Industry: Government Strategy (Hansard, 18 March 1993)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Baroness Denton of Wakefield)
My Lords, yes.

§ Lord Peyton of Yeovil
My Lords, I am dumbfounded. Would I be justified in assuming that the word "yes" means that the Government intend to publish a comprehensive White Paper stating what their industrial strategy is? I beg your Lordships' pardon for not having a prepared riposte to that Answer.

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, you will forgive me if I take this as a moment of high glory. While congratulating my noble friend on his success with horseracing matters, perhaps I may inform him that on this subject we remain of the view that the publication of a White Paper would not in itself make a real contribution to industrial growth.

§ Lord Peston
My Lords, I must say that I am now a trifle lost by the answers given by the noble Baroness. Is she not aware that from my experience of your Lordships' House the noble Lord, Lord Peyton, never loses on this sort of matter so, to save our time, the noble Baroness should really give him what he wants now? I understood that the real import of the Question was, "Are we going to have a White Paper?" I cannot understand the answer "yes" in relation to further consideration if it is not going to lead to a White Paper. Why should her department consider these matters further if not with a view to stating its policy in a document? Can the noble Baroness at least clarify what she wants us to learn from this? Will she accept from me (since I have to speak from this Bench on such matters) that I should like to get this over and done with now because I cannot bear the thought of the noble Lord, Lord Peyton, asking the same Question week in, week out until he gets what he wants?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I am afraid that I cannot help the noble Lord, Lord Peston. It is not our intention to publish a White Paper on industrial strategy. We believe that we are doing it. We believe that Tuesday's Budget showed an absolute commitment to business. We also believe that there is already an excellent publication in this area. I refer to your Lordships' Select Committee report on innovation, which my right honourable friend the President of the Board of Trade has recently reconsidered, among other matters.

§ Lord Stoddart of Swindon
My Lords, does the noble Baroness not agree—

§ Viscount Caldecote
My Lords, does my noble friend agree with the widely held view that as we come out of recession, imports will be sucked in a major way thus increasing further the huge deficit in the balance of trade? Further, do the Government believe 1546 that everything possible is being done to stimulate greater investment by industry on the development of new competitive products to alleviate that problem?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I am pleased to tell my noble friend Lord Caldecote that we believe that things in this area are moving in the right direction. Manufactured exports are at a record level, and are 6.5 per cent. higher than a year ago. In the latest quarter, business investment was nearly three-fifths higher than in 1981. We constantly hear stories about people looking to source from the quality goods of this country items which had previously been imported.

§ Lord Stoddart of Swindon
My Lords, does the noble Baroness not agree that the message given by—

Noble Lords
Cross-Bencher!

§ Lord Benson
My Lords, I wonder whether the noble Baroness recalls that she wrote to me on 23rd November giving a full statement of the Government's industrial strategy. I replied on 1st December. In the absence of a White Paper, would she be willing now to publish that correspondence which discloses the Government's industrial strategy?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I should be extremely happy to place that correspondence in the Library, as the noble Lord, Lord Benson, requests.

§ Lord Stoddart of Swindon
My Lords, in spite of that—

§ Lord Mackay of Ardbrecknish
My Lords—

§ Lord Stoddart of Swindon
My Lords, no, it is our turn now. I have given way twice and to do so three times would be far too much. In spite of that last answer, does the noble Baroness agree that the message coming through in the Budget was extremely confused in relation to industrial strategy? What the country needs is to have that strategy clarified in no uncertain terms. Will she reconsider the answers that she has already given and advise her right honourable and honourable friends that we need a White Paper and should have one soon?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I am afraid that I must disagree with the noble Lord, Lord Stoddart. I do not believe that cutting the tax burden on business by £1 billion is at all confused.

§ Lord Mackay of Ardbrecknish
My Lords, will my noble friend remind the noble Lord, Lord Stoddart, and my noble friend Lord Peyton that the strike rate of government-produced industrial strategies and government-produced national plans is about as good as the strike rate of the English cricket team?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I wish that I could answer my noble friend by being more loyal to the English cricket team but, regrettably, I must agree with him.

§ Lord Monkswell
My Lords, in her answers the Minister said that the Government's industrial policy is contained in a report of a Select Committee of your 1547 Lordships' House. She also advised the House that it is contained in a letter to the noble Lord, Lord Benson. We are now getting terribly confused—and I suspect that the Government are a bit confused. It might be useful if a comprehensive document laying out the Government's current industrial strategy could be made available to the public at large as well as to your Lordships' House.

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I am sorry that I have confused the noble Lord. What I said was that there has been an excellent publication on the subject by your Lordships' Select Committee. That was not the Government's industrial strategy; the report related to the importance of manufacturing industry. Perhaps I may make it absolutely clear that the Government's strategy is to create the climate within which industry can thrive and to ensure that the policies of both the DTI and the rest of government take the needs of business into account.

§ Lord Eatwell
My Lords, is the Minister aware that the Red Book, published with the Budget, shows that business investment this year will fall by half of 1 per cent., and that her optimistic comment about business investment in an earlier answer is belied by that statistic? Given that business investment is expected by the Treasury to fall this year, will she give an assurance that the increased capital allowances for investment, introduced in last year's Autumn Statement, will be continued for a further year?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I am sure that the noble Lord would not expect me to make Treasury statements while standing at this Dispatch Box. However, perhaps I may point out that the Budget forecasts included one that manufacturing output was to rise by 1.5 per cent. in 1993. That is important.

§ Lord Peyton of Yeovil
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that, on reflection, her original Answer to an innocent Question verged uncharacteristically upon the tricky? Will she confirm, or otherwise, that the Government have some ideas on matters such as investment, innovation, taxation, employment training and trade? Would it not be useful for other people also to have the Government's views on those important matters in one document so that they could be understood clearly?

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I apologise to my noble friend if he thought my Answer verged on the tricky. It was meant to be accurate. We shall continue to practise rather than preach. One of the figures that proves that we are doing that is that in February—I am delighted to be able to say this—seasonally adjusted unemployment figures were down by 22,000.

§ Lord Dormand of Easington
My Lords, as the coal industry plays an important role in industrial strategy, will the Minister tell us how much longer we shall have to wait for a Statement on what is to happen? Is she aware that all kinds of things are happening in the coalfields, including the fact that some pits, as I have 1548 said in the Chamber before, are literally crumbling? We should have a Statement soon. The matter has gone on for long enough.

§ Baroness Denton of Wakefield
My Lords, I am sure that the noble Lord will recognise that precipitate action must not be taken on this matter and that the report of the review will come as soon as it is right that it should do so.