§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville)My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Hewitt) has made the following Written Statement.
The Department of Trade and Industry five-year programme, Creating Wealth from Knowledge, was published today. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses and are available from the DTI website at: www.dti.gov.uk/ fiveyearprogramme.html
On 18 September 2003 I published the DTI strategy, setting out the measures which my department will take to raise productivity in the UK and achieve our vision of prosperity for all. The five-year programme reaffirms the priorities of the DTI strategy. It sets out how the UK will develop a strong, modern knowledge-based economy which can meet the challenges posed by the rapidly emerging economies and new technologies.
The five-year programme recognises that we are building on solid foundations. Living standards have gone up, on average, by almost 3 per cent a year since 1997. For the first time in nearly half a century the UK has the best growth and employment record of the G7, and we have overtaken France to become the fourth-largest economy in the world. However, our world is undergoing a transformation; China is set to be the largest economy in the world within a generation; India produces 3 million highly skilled graduates a year; the new central and eastern European democracies, with wage costs which are 10 per cent of ours, have joined the EU. In order for the UK to maintain and build on our strong economic position, we will have to respond to this changing environment.
The five-year programme argues that innovation through the application of science and technology, with highly skilled people, is the key to our country's future prosperity. In the modern world, the countries that create a climate where innovation flourishes will succeed. Those that do not will struggle. The UK already has many strengths to succeed: world class universities; a tradition of science and research; a dynamic and flexible labour market; and world-beating businesses which make use of new technologies and provide high value-added services.
69WSMy department is at the cutting edge of our country's ambition to create wealth from knowledge. Our five-year programme outlines the means by which we will achieve this, working with other departments, business, trade unions and other partners at home, in 70WS Europe and globally. It sets out the policies needed, over the next five years, to stimulate the industries and jobs of the future through science and innovation; to create new partnerships with industry to promote enterprise; to deliver a new approach to regulation; and to lead the drive for reform in Europe.