§ Mr. David ShawTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the achievements of his Department and his policies in helping small businesses over the last 12 months relative to the previous 12 months; and if he will publish the performance indicators by which his Department monitors those achievements and the statistical results of such monitoring.
§ Mr. NorrisThe Government continue to place a high priority on helping small businesses through improvements to the business climate, through deregulation and through specific programmes of support and assistance. One of the aims of our transport policy is to provide the right infrastructure so that large and small businesses can operate effectively. Specific measures by my Department which have helped small business include the deregulation of local bus services. We expect the completion of the single market in aviation, agreed last month, to extend the benefits of a liberal aviation market, such as lower fares and a choice of services, already enjoyed by consumers in the United Kingdom, to the whole of the EC. This will benefit businesses as users of air services as well as offering increased opportunities to enter EC markets as operators. The abolition of the dock labour scheme has increased competition between ports and in many of them productivity has grown considerably.