§ Mr. Burtasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the present performance and future role of the British Technology Group.
§ Mr. PattieThe role of the British Technology Group (BTG—the name under which the National Research Development Corporation and the National Enterprise Board have been co-operating since 1981) was set out by the then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in 1983. The BTG now concentrates its efforts on technology transfer, helping British industry to exploit technology mainly derived from United Kingdom public sector sources. This task is intended to be carried out in such a manner as to become self-financing.
The 1983 statement also required a high priority to be given to the disposal of the group's portfolio of equity investments inherited from the NEB. The corporate plan to carry out these objectives was agreed with Ministers in 1984 and updated in 1985. The BTG has been very successful in meeting these objectives.
On the NRDC side, revenues from technology transfer were significantly better than forecast and the NRDC paid dividends of £2 million to the Exchequer from surplus funds for both 1983–84 and 1984–85. It has also now been agreed that in future NRDC will pay dividends equal to 50 per cent. of the post-tax profits for the previous year, although this would not necessarily be regarded as the upper limit, if the corporation enjoyed a "windfall" profit. It remains a major objective for the NRDC to generate increased revenue from a wider range of inventions than in the past.
On the NEB side, progress on the disposal of equity investments has been very good. The rate of disposals and their value has exceeded expectations and from the disposal proceeds a total of £168 million was paid to the Exchequer as a refund of public dividend capital in 1984–85. A further £22 million has been paid so far in the current financial year. The BTG also repaid outstanding loans of £2 million to the Exchequer in 1984–85.
For the future, the Government regard technology transfer of great importance to British industry, leading to the starting up of new industries and new product lines, with consequential job creation. Mr Ian Harvey, a qualified engineer with experience of industry, the World Bank and consultancy, was appointed chief executive of the BTG in October 1985, to develop the BTG's technology transfer role. This has been accompanied by a reorganisation of the group, to place increased emphasis on technology transfer.