UK Trade and Investment

Lord Cotter Excerpts

Tuesday 9th October 2012 Grand Committee

[Lord Cotter]

My Lords, I would like to start with the talk. I seem to remember a recent advertising slogan, “It’s good to talk”. How do we do that, when it comes to business? I believe that too often from the beginning of the current crisis we have heard talk about austerity and cuts. Austerity and cuts were emphasised long before they started happening. I think that that was negative talk, which had quite an impact on business. The continued talk about cuts and austerity, not balanced by talk about growth and going forward, has been a negative aspect. I hope that the Minister, whom I welcome in his role, will consider that point. It is not just for the business department to talk positively about this; it is for the Treasury and others as well. We need to correct the deficit but, as I say, we need the positives.

I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Liddell, on securing the debate today, which is about trade and investment. The Government have made a start with the Britain Open for Business initiative, in which there are many encouraging ideas. I hope that the Minister, later in the debate or at another time, will talk about the implementation of that. We need continual monitoring of progress.

I take on board the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Cope, about the need for publicity, so that people are aware of what help is available. A recent FSB report said that, in the case of UKTI, only 6% of small businesses were engaged. Out of those 6%—it may be wrong, but that is what was said—83% were encouraged by their contact. I take on board the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Liddell, about concerns that too much is directed towards big business rather than small businesses. On publicity and the need for people to be aware of what is available, I know, having been in small business, how little time we have to consider, when we are thinking about how to survive, what else is available out there. I say to the Minister that, in lots of different ways, publicity is needed, direct or otherwise, to ensure that small businesses know that there is something out there that can really help them.

There is a need for us to be welcoming in this country and for Britain Open for Business to actually mean something. In this connection, I again go back to the talk, and to what is said and what happens. I hear quite often that foreign firms and investors have great difficulty in getting visas for key staff, more so than in most countries in the European Union. We need to look at that and see whether it is correct. If it is correct, we need to look at it very carefully, because it does not take much bureaucracy and red tape for someone coming from overseas to feel that this country is unwelcoming.

In this connection, I refer to a recent controversy involving the London Metropolitan University. As a result of it, there was talk of revoking the licence of the university. The implications for students from overseas were such that they could have lost their opportunity of an education in this country. It is a major area of concern. Again, a message was going out, and it is very difficult to counteract messages once they get out and to say, “No, no, that’s not the case”. That was a case where the message was quite negative for this country.

We need to talk up business. For SMEs, publicity is crucial in order to know what is available. We should not go against the need to reduce the deficit; rather, we should emphasise the need to encourage business—not just business alone but the Treasury and other departments in the Government.

I look forward to the Minister engaging with us and reporting back on what progress has been made with the various initiatives. The noble Baroness, Lady Liddell, referred to her time in the other place. When I was in the other place, I argued time and again for the need for Ministers or politicians to appreciate what a small business is all about, and for civil servants and others to have placements in small businesses. I read that the Government were doing that a lot more, but I stress to the Minister that it cannot happen enough. Having struggled myself, I know that a Minister or civil servant would have to work in a small business for only two or three days to realise what a difficult field it is and how many skills you need to run it. I strongly support what has been said by previous speakers and underline to the Minister the points that I have made about involvement and speaking up for business.