HL Deb 15 July 1997 vol 581 c103WA
Lord Lucas

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Which measure or measures of the width of the industrial base they wish to be used in assessing their performance in government.

The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Simon of Highbury)

The Government monitor a range of indicators of the performance of industry in pursuit of their goal of increasing living standards and prosperity for all. It is vital that all sectors of industry, including manufacturing and services, are operating effectively and efficiently. The Government aim to raise the trend rate of growth of the economy by strengthening our wealth-creating base, in particular by nurturing investment in industry, skills infrastructure and new technologies. A dialogue with industry and union leadership will help to establish the benchmarking process that practitioners consider valuable to make measurement a contributory factor to performance improvement.