§ Mr. ReedTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if she will make it her policy to promote innovation in the textile and clothing industry by supporting a series of sector-specific events highlighting best practice in product innovation; [33269]
(2) if she will make it her policy to encourage wool textile manufacturers and trade associations to promote British wool textile as a generic brand; [33278]
(3) if she will undertake a study of the reasons for the differing performance of the clothing industries in (a) Italy, (b) Germany, (c) France and (d) the UK; [33275]
(4) what steps her Department is taking to broker the participation of UK textile manufacturers in collaborative EU programmes, with particular reference to (a) LINK and (b) Eureka; [33279]
966W(5) if she will undertake to fund activities that will lead to the development of stronger networks among (a) technical textile manufacturers, (b) universities and colleges and (c) other parts of the supply chain in the textile industry; [33272]
(6) if her Department will arrange a series of regional seminars to highlight the availability of funding for technological innovation in the textile and clothing industry; [33271]
(7) if she will establish a flexible support fund to support individual companies in the textile and clothing industries undertaking small-scale innovation and developmental work; [33270]
(8) if her Department will continue to fund technology transfer activities involving technical textile companies and academic institutions; [33277]
(9) if she will undertake to fund a study of best practice in the Italian textile and clothing industry and how it might be adapted to the UK; [33276]
(10) if she will make it her policy to ensure the availability of funding to support technological innovation in the textile industry; and if she will make a statement; [33280]
(11) what steps she is taking to enable traditional textile companies to diversify into technical textiles. [33273]
§ Ms HewittIt is a priority for my Department to support a healthy UK textiles and clothing industry and to work alongside the industry's own Textile and Clothing Strategy Group (TCSG) in helping to improve the industry's productivity and competitiveness. I attach particular importance to helping the industry to innovate and develop new world-beating products. The Government have invested more than £80 million in the industry since 1997. And in the last year alone, we have invested about £8 million focused principally on developing the technical textiles market, employment and training opportunities, help for the supply chain, design skills, the benefits of 3-commerce and export support.
My Department is working closely with the TCSG to raise awareness and encourage participating of textile and clothing manufacturers in a variety of research, technology transfer and best practice programmes.
A programme of 10 regionally tailored road shows, "Textile and Clothing Funding Unzipped", is under way in key textiles and clothing regions underpinned by a dedicated website signposting companies to sources of help and support for technological innovation, for R&D and for capital investment, including information on collaborative EU programmes such as Link and Eureka. "Unzipped" road shows have so far been held in Melton Mowbray—east midlands in March 2001, Bolton—north-west region in October 2001, Huddersfield—Yorkshire and Humber region in October 2001, Port Talbot—south Wales in November 2001, Llandudno—north Wales in November 2001, London in December 2001 and continues in Sunderland—north-east region on 6 February 2002, Solihull—west midlands on 5 March 2002, Edinburgh on 14 March 2002 and Belfast on 20 March 2002.
967WParticular focus has been given by my Department to supporting the development of Technical Textiles. Since 1998 22 collaborative and innovative technical textiles projects have been supported and a further seven new projects are currently in development. In April 2001 a Technical Textiles Project Co-ordinator was appointed to increase networking within the sector and bring together project consortia of technical textile companies and academic institutions. To help in this objective regional seminars have been held to highlight the availability of funding for technical textile innovation and to encourage traditional textile companies to diversify into this sector. My Department is supporting the work of TechniTex—the Faraday Partnership for technical textiles comprising hub partners Heriot-Watt university, the university of Leeds, UMIST and BTTG. We welcome the industry initiative to explore the possibility of setting up of a TT trade association, which would help broker stronger links across the sector.
We continue to seek to involve UK textile manufacturers in research collaborations with universities. Currently we are funding two such research partnerships through Foresight LINK Awards. The two projects are aimed at researching new fire resistant textiles, and a prototype automated sorter for the detection and removal of natural and synthetic contaminants in wool and cashmere. We are also funding a EUREKA project with the objective of creating a pilot line for the manufacture of texturised, mass stained, fine polypropylene yarn.
We are already supporting a variety of collaborative initiatives in the textile and clothing sector as a whole aimed at fostering stronger networks between strategic partners through the Innovation Budget and through best practice programmes such as the Industry Forum Adaptation scheme, which is currently funding a major initiative aimed at improving supply chain efficiency in the textiles and clothing sector.
My Department is aware that the industry has been in discussions with a view to developing British wool textile as a generic brand. In consultation with the TCSG my Department is carrying out a comparative study of the UK and Italian clothing manufacturing industries, focused on the wool and worsted weaving and men's tailoring sectors. The results of this study will be disseminated to the industry and will inform decisions about any future research projects.