§ Mr. Andrew RosindellTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will encourage large companies to keep their call centre bases in the United Kingdom. [135473]
§ Mr. TimmsCompanies in the UK are operating in an increasingly competitive, global marketplace. It is a commercial matter for companies to decide where to locate their operations. In doing so companies will need to consider a number of factors including, inter alia, the strategic importance to the business of their call centre operations and the relative risks and benefits of transferring these overseas, the geographic distribution of their customer base and the need to be close to customers, location of their competitors, relative costs, and the ability to maintain service quality. The United Kingdom has by far the greatest number of call centre operations in Europe reflecting our expertise in call centre management and the wish by many companies to retain call centre bases here.
A protectionist approach would run the risk of forcing companies to locate completely out of the UK which would not be to our long term economic benefit.
508WWe are, however, continuing to create a stable, competitive, economic environment in the UK for all companies to operate in. Our long term economic interest will be based on our ability to innovate to produce high value-added goods and services, supported by a highly skilled workforce, high calibre managers, forward looking unions and knowledgeable consumers.