Oral Answers to Questions

Gerald Howarth Excerpts

Monday 4th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Chris Skidmore (Kingswood) (Con)]

11. What steps his Department is taking to promote defence exports.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Gerald Howarth)]

We are supporting defence exports through an active and innovative defence diplomacy initiative, working closely with the UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation. Exports help to build and enhance relations with allies, to support UK defence industry, and to reduce the cost of equipment for Britain’s armed forces.

Ministers and officials from across Government, including my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, are already actively promoting British defence exports overseas. We are also embedding exportability into the early stages of the Ministry of Defence acquisition cycle. By considering export issues early and offering partnership at the design stage, we aim to increase export opportunities, which should result in reduced acquisition costs to the MOD.

[Jack Lopresti]

I thank my hon. Friend for that response. The Government have made positive changes in how they work with the UK defence industry to achieve better mutual benefits. However, what more can the Government and industry do so that we take an even better approach to exports throughout the whole of the UK defence sector, including MBDA and many other companies in my constituency, to maximise opportunities for the UK?

[Mr Howarth]

I am glad that my hon. Friend noted the extraordinary efforts that I and my ministerial colleagues across all Departments are making. There is no complacency. The defence exports support group was set up by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State specifically to act as a forum for Ministers to plan and focus their support to defence exports. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate MBDA on the fantastic job it is doing in supporting current operations in Afghanistan through the provision of some outstanding equipment. I hope that he will convey that message to his constituents. I am working with MBDA to see what we can do to help promote further exports.

[Chris Skidmore]

Airbus has recently set up a new research and development centre at the national composite centre in my constituency at the Bristol and Bath science park. Will the Minister welcome this development, and does he agree that effective research and development is crucial to promoting defence exports?

[Mr Howarth]

I assure my hon. Friend that I am very aware of the work going on his constituency—I have been briefed on it—and I think it is a sector in which the United Kingdom enjoys outstanding strength. I have also visited the Airbus facility at Filton, where the wings for the A400M are built. That aircraft has fantastic export potential, and I hope that it will be a world-beater.

[John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) (Lab/Co-op)]

How does the Minister expect successfully to sell British industry abroad when his muddled defence review is squeezing firms at home? Is he aware that the pioneering lighting firm in my constituency, Oxley, has been forced to shed another 13 jobs and cites the difficulties created by the Government’s defence review as a key factor in that decision?

[Mr Howarth]

It might have escaped the hon. Gentleman’s notice that the difficulties that the MOD faces are entirely the fault of the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown), the former Prime Minister, who destroyed the country’s public finances and forced the Government to take measures to try to restore them. We are ensuring that we maximise the defence industry’s opportunities for first-class British kit in the export market. If he would like representatives from Oxley to come and tell me about it, I would be happy to meet them.

[Mr Russell Brown (Dumfries and Galloway) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State has made his position clear: defence procurement will be based on open competition in the global market and buying off the shelf. How does that square with supporting UK industry? The hon. Member for Kingswood (Chris Skidmore) asked whether he recognises the absolute necessity for ongoing support for research and technology within the sector to make it clear to companies in the sector that the Government are firmly behind what they are doing.

[Mr Howarth]

We fully recognise the importance of research and technology, which is why the Government have sought hard to protect that budget and why my hon. Friend the Minister with responsibility for defence equipment, support and technology is also working hard and will shortly produce a White Paper on the subject. I assure hon. Members that nobody is more aware than the Government of the importance of the British manufacturing defence base as a basis upon which to generate wealth for the UK through exports.

[Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab)]

5. What steps the Government have taken to strengthen the defence industrial base; and if he will make a statement.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Gerald Howarth)]

On Bahrain, I can tell my hon. Friend that a cross-Whitehall review of export licences to that country was held on 18 February, and licences for equipment that could be used for internal repression were revoked—to date, 23 single licences have been revoked and 16 open licences have had Bahrain removed from them. On Saudi Arabia, I can tell him that, like all other countries, we subject all defence exports to a rigorous review against the criteria set by this country and elsewhere.

[Mr Elfyn Llwyd (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

On 28 April, I received an answer from the Minister to a request for a breakdown of outsourced transport costs from the Bicester logistics centre. The response was that £4 million had been saved and that the amount spent by Bicester on private couriers between 2008 and 2010 was zero. In my office, I have copies of literally thousands of transport documents that show that the answer is millions of pounds. The answer I was given therefore could not be further from the truth. Will the Minister provide urgent clarification on this very important matter?