Economy: Growth

Lord Razzall Excerpts

Thursday 9th December 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox]

My Lords, obviously, we are delighted with any signs of growth and of going forward. The figures read out by the noble Lord are not encouraging, but that does not mean to say that we do not have to try to do the best we can. We know, for example, that advanced manufacturing growth is very important for us, and a review will be out very soon. We are reviewing all the areas in which we can find any growth at all, and I am sure that the noble Lord, fine engineer that he is, will help us in any way he can to encourage us in areas from which he thinks growth will come.

[Lord Razzall]

My Lords, in her Answer to her noble friend Lord Roberts of Conwy, the Minister indicated that the establishment of local enterprise partnerships was a key driver for economic growth. Is she satisfied with the progress in the establishment of those local enterprise partnerships, which, as she will know, is a subject that is dear to the heart of the Liberal Democrat party?

[Baroness Wilcox]

The formation of 24 local enterprise partnerships is a landmark move that will see business and civic leaders work together to create the conditions for growth in their communities. This is, as we know, a real power shift away from central government and quangos towards local communities and the businesses that really understand the local barriers to growth. We have 24 partnerships already and we are working very hard to ensure that the others will come online as quickly as possible. We are quite confident that this will take things forward in a way that the RDAs never did.