UK Manufacturing Industry

Baroness Donaghy Excerpts

Thursday 8th December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Donaghy]

My Lords, how do we develop a bigger share of the manufacturing marketplace? I think we all know the solutions: a competitive banking system, for more flexible loans; a universal vocational education; a philosophy of long-term investment; and a system of government that is focused on strategic issues stretching beyond a four- or five-year term of office—not a lot, really.

Some noble Lords have talked about their manufacturing backgrounds. I worked on a production line in a pie factory in the Midlands, so I can say that I was a meat pie manufacturer. I was brought up to believe that Sir Frank Whittle was a hero—which of course he was. My father worked as an aero engineer for Armstrong Siddeley. I make the point about Sir Frank Whittle for two reasons. First, it is unfortunately comparatively rare for a child to be influenced in this way. I am a comparative newcomer to the world of Westminster and I wonder what the response of our political classes would be if their children announced that they were going into manufacturing. My guess would be that it would be the equivalent of your child coming home from holiday having married the hotel waiter. Culture change is needed from top to bottom, not least in the industries themselves, which must find ways to fire the imagination of the young.

The second reason for mentioning Sir Frank Whittle is to emphasise the importance of heroes—and heroines—a point made very clearly by the noble Lord, Lord Lee of Trafford. If we look at how Sir Frank Whittle was treated by the establishment of the day, we get some idea of the shortage of heroes, and it is a job we should be doing: the top 50 manufacturing heroes of the century, the top manufacturing hero of the year. I welcome the fact that the £1 million Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, to be overseen by the Royal Academy of Engineering, has been created to elevate the status of engineering. It might help to create more heroes, but does it address the issue of teamwork, collaboration and partnership, which is a feature of much development work today? I have a concern about that.

Having talked about Sir Frank Whittle, it is important that we do not allow the debate to be just a stroll down memory lane. The excellent debate in the House of Commons last month covered the key areas of skills, financing and culture change, and the need for a clear strategy for the future. The right honourable Pat McFadden covered this very well when he said:

“I also believe that we make more than we think and more than we sometimes give ourselves credit for … we can challenge the culture of decline and loss. As a country, we should resolve to be the best place in the world for engineering”.—[Official Report, Commons, 24/11/11; cols. 521-22.]

There are some excellent examples of collaboration between companies and universities. I am a member of the University of Birmingham’s business advisory committee, along with the noble Lords, Lord Bilimoria and Lord Jones of Birmingham—yes, I do get a word in edgeways. The university produces an excellent yearbook on entrepreneurship and innovation, with a foreword by my noble friend Lord Bilimoria. I was privileged to attend the Lord Stafford Awards dinner last month, where close collaboration between industry and universities in the Midlands and eastern area was celebrated. I would like to pay tribute to Lord Stafford for his work in this area. Apart from the well established work at the universities of Birmingham and Warwick, there were other exciting developments, including between Siemens and the University of Lincoln, intended to encourage people into the engineering industry.

Part of the debate in the Commons was around creating a full-time Minister for Manufacturing. The Minister for Universities and Science, Mr David Willetts, indicated that the BIS Minister, Mr Prisk, was,

“for all practical purposes our Minister for manufacturing … He is the go-to Minister for manufacturing”.—[Official Report, Commons, 24/11/11; col. 539.]

There really needs to be more strategic political focus on manufacturing. It is covered by many government departments, and that in itself can be the kiss of death for progress. I conducted an inquiry into the underlying causes of construction fatal accidents and saw then how many government departments were involved. I recommended that there should be a full-time Minister to provide more political focus on the industry, and a resource to provide an overview of the various departmental activities. What I did not say in my report was that a turnover of eight Ministers, with an average stay of eight months, was not conducive to good governance.

That is, unfortunately, the Westminster way but it does not give confidence to industry. When I pointed that out to some civil servants, one said that he thought the construction industry was a bunch of whingers. I met 175 organisations and individuals, and I did not meet a single whinger. They were a group of practical, can-do people who achieve great things for our country and deserve our support.

When preparing for this debate, I was going to make a plea that Governments should try to kick the habit of making grand, intermittent announcements about funding. Unfortunately, this week we have had—guess what?—a grand announcement of a new £125 million fund,

“to boost UK advanced manufacturing supply chains”.

The inevitable press release talks about “a new initiative”. An initiative is of itself new but tautology is always the order of the day on these occasions. The problem with these one-off funds is that they are invariably time-limited and, therefore, cut out long-term planning. The politician’s reply is that it is pump-priming and has to be administered by a department, for which one could read, “project managed by a civil servant whose promotion depends on it”. The criteria for eligibility will be couched in such a way that most people will not apply and the fund will be inadequate.

The support for our manufacturing base really is a matter of life and death for our economy. I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate and I thank the noble Lord, Lord Haskel, for that opportunity.