§ Lord Pattenasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the purpose of the Department of Trade and Industry. [HL1782]
§ The Minister for Science, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville)The DTI is central to the Government's modernising agenda for the economy. A healthy business sector is vital to our standard of living as a nation, and the department has front-line responsibility for supporting British business and for much of the underlying framework for economic activity. Business must lead in the process of modernisation by responding to the spur of competition and exploiting market opportunities. The DTI's task is to help make the UK a more competitive and profitable base for business. It works to do this at home, in Europe and on the wider international stage.
Among the key elements of its work, the department is working to increase enterprise, innovation and the exploitation of science, to capitalise on the immense potential of electronic commerce and to help business to wire up to the digital market place. It provides help to small businesses to grow, to invest and to improve their skills. It supports economic growth in the regions working with the regional development agencies and others. It is empowering consumers and increasing protection from rogue traders taking forward the Government's energy policy and helping to ensure that business can find people with the skills it needs. The department also seeks to promote the highest standards of scientific excellence, to make the most of the advances made by science, engineering and technology, improving our quality of life, promoting sustainable growth and underpinning the UK's standard of living now and in the future.
59WAIt works to create open, efficient and competitive markets which reward innovation and enterprise. It aims to provide a regulatory structure for business which promotes fairness and avoids unnecessary burdens on business. It is promoting a framework for employees and employers which promotes partnership and a skilled and flexible labour market.
The department's aim is to increase competitiveness and scientific excellence in order to generate higher levels of sustainable growth and productivity in a modern economy. The department's objectives, which support this aim, are to promote enterprise, innovation and increased productivity; to make the most of the UK's science, engineering and technology; to create strong and competitive markets; and to develop a fair and effective legal and regulatory framework.
The department is responsible for over £3 billion of public expenditure each year, around 50 per cent of it on the seven research councils which support science.
§ Lord Pattenasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they wish the Department of Trade and Industry to pursue an interventionalist role in the British economy. [HL1783]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleThe role of the Department of Trade and Industry is not to intervene before breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is to establish an environment in which business can prosper. It is putting in place a number of programmes to achieve this: a new enterprise fund to help small firms invest in success, the Phoenix Fund to promote enterprise in deprived areas and a fund to invest in business clusters; launch of the Small Business Service to give smaller businesses a strong voice within government, simplify and improve business support and tackle red tape; the Electronics Commuinications Bill, which will facilitate the use of e-mail and other electronic means of communication in commercial transactions; the joint DTI/DfEE/HEFCE Reach Out Fund to provide new incentives for collaboration between business and universities; additional funding to help business use new technology, through TCS, SMART and the Faraday partnership initiative, the Information Society Initiative and the Environmental Best Practice Programme; the Postal Services Bill, which will modernise and reform postal services and create a world-class postal network in the UK; a leading role in pushing forward the single market in Europe and in preparing for the Lisbon Summit on economic and social reform; a reference to the Competition Commission of the supply of banking services to small and medium-sized enterprises, following the Cruickshank review.