UK Fashion Industry

Debate between Meg Hillier and Jo Swinson

Tuesday 12th February 2013 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Jo Swinson)]

I welcome the opportunity to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Riordan, and congratulate the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Meg Hillier) on securing this debate, the topic of which is both important and timely, as London fashion week starts this Friday.

Textiles and fashion have a long history in the UK, and their importance has been felt even in these august premises, in the Houses of Parliament. Back in the 14th century, the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords sat on a Woolsack to demonstrate the importance of the wool trade to the nation. In the 18th century, textiles were the single biggest economic interest after grain. Throughout our history, from the Stuarts to the sixties, fashion has added definition to our society. Today, the UK is home to some of the most inspiring fashion designers in the world, some of whom were mentioned by the hon. Lady. Hackney is right to be proud of its strong fashion heritage. With strong mayoral support for the creative industries, the fashion business has a great deal to offer London and indeed the rest of the UK.

Fashion remains an important part of the economy. Its wider contribution is estimated at more than £37 billion —the hon. Lady mentioned £21 billion as the direct figure for fashion—and more than 800,000 jobs are supported more widely throughout the industry. As the hon. Lady rightly says, this is an industry that is worth talking about and that perhaps does not always get the profile that it deserves in this place.

Today, the country is home to leading designers of menswear, womenswear, childrenswear and babywear who export their products worldwide. We are also a leading centre for the manufacture of clothing and high-quality fabrics, as well as a truly global hub for fashion retailing.

Many UK companies are thriving by supplying top-end, exclusive products. British designers such as Stella McCartney, Paul Smith and Vivienne Westwood continue to lead in global markets. The UK’s economic success is due in large part to our ability to participate in global trade and investment. We should be proud of our heritage and our reputation for quality and excellence, which forms the foundation of our international success.

From a Government perspective, we want to ensure that this sector continues to grow. Sustainable growth hinges on ensuring that we have manufacturing capacity, a skilled work force, and support for the many small businesses emerging in the sector. Those key challenges were all outlined in the hon. Lady’s speech.

Manufacturing is crucial to economic recovery. Working with business, we are taking steps to strengthen UK manufacturing capability. We want to create a better business environment that will address barriers to growth; encourage innovation and technology commercialisation; increase exports and business investment; improve skills; and build UK supply chains. Last October, as part of the Government’s “Make it in Great Britain” initiative, my Department hosted the UK fashion and textile manufacturing showcase. It was designed to dispel the myth that the UK does not make anything any more.

We are encouraging manufacturers and retailers to work more closely together to identify opportunities to bring business back to the UK. Already we have seen some retailers sourcing products from the UK, where they have opportunities to benefit from shorter lead times. Debenhams, for example, recently pledged to increase its use of UK manufacturers as it launches a new “Made by Great Britons” range.

Lord Alliance from the other place has recently commissioned work to look at the feasibility of bringing back textile manufacturing to the UK, and the early signs are positive. Manchester, with its key history in textiles and manufacturing, is leading that strategic programme. It is working in collaboration with key bodies including the London College of Fashion.

UK Trade & Investment is also helping to boost economic growth by promoting UK products and services to customers abroad and encouraging foreign companies to invest in the UK through the GREAT campaign, which focuses on exactly why the British fashion industry has been considered No. 1 on the world stage, with its well-established tailors of Savile row and its exciting young start-up designers. Learn their names now and who knows whose wedding dresses they will be designing in the future.

The hon. Lady was right to say that skills are essential to support the UK fashion industry, and that apprenticeships, in turn, are at the heart of our skills ambition. Just last week, Creative Skillset, which is the sector skills council for the creative industries, launched its first higher-level apprenticeship in fashion and textiles to meet skills needs in advertising, creative and digital media, and fashion and textiles. Working with the industry, including with companies such as Burberry, Creative Skillset is planning to deliver 500 apprenticeships. The hon. Lady was right to say that employers are best placed to know the skills that they need, which is why apprenticeship funding is demand-led. Companies and employers in that sector need to come forward and commit to employing and training an apprentice; then they can access the funding.

I am also pleased to note that the UK Commission for Employment and Skills has provided nearly £7 million to Creative Skillset to develop targeted skills interventions. That will bring greater collaboration between the industry and higher education to overcome structural barriers to new skills acquisition, tailor products and services for the sector, and benchmark the very best training that is available.

The Government are giving business access to a significant skills funding opportunity through the “employer ownership of skills” pilot programme, the first round of which saw more than £2 million awarded to the Textile Centre of Excellence. Round 2 of the pilot is now open, and we welcome and encourage bids from companies in the fashion sector that are seeking to identify innovative solutions to their, or the wider sector’s, skills challenges. The deadline for bids is Thursday 28 March 2013.

Higher education also plays a vital role, with our internationally recognised universities offering a wide range of fashion courses. Figures for 2011 show that there were almost 18,000 students registered on fashion and textile courses. Of course London is seen as a global centre of fashion, with our universities, including the campus in the hon. Lady’s constituency, attracting students from around the world. Higher education is also leading the way on supporting positive body image. The Edinburgh college of art’s centre of diversity project, which is a collaboration of fashion colleges from up and down the country, is working with All Walks Beyond the Catwalk to develop innovative educational methods and to promote a positive attitude to body diversity within fashion education. They are teaching student fashion designers how to cut to a wide variety of body shapes, sizes and styles. Given my campaigning on this issue, the scheme has particular resonance for me.

Fashion has the power to inspire and define whole generations. The images that are created are iconic, and if we harness that power, we can achieve great things. I pay tribute to All Walks Beyond the Catwalk, and to Debra Bourne and Caryn Franklin, who set it up. Of course Caryn rightly and deservedly received an MBE for services to diversity in the fashion industry in the new year’s honours list.

Exploitation is an important issue to address within the fashion industry.

[Meg Hillier]

I hope that the Minister will address the issue of visas later in her speech. If she is not planning to do so, it would be good if she could address that point before she moves on from higher education.

[Jo Swinson]

I am happy to address the matter of visas. The hon. Lady is right to say that talented individuals come here to study. We want to ensure that we can use that talent in the British economy. Of course discussions are ongoing between the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Home Office on those issues, as with all issues to do with business and the visa system, to make sure that we have a proportionate and fair regime that enables people to contribute to the economy in a way that helps overall UK growth.

On the issue of unpaid interns, it is absolutely the case that there is, unfortunately, exploitation of young people in the fashion industry, and this Government are clear that anyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it. We expect employers to play by the rules and pay their interns at least the minimum wage, as long as there is no exemption, as there is for volunteers. Anyone who finds themselves in the kind of situation that we are talking about should know about the pay and work rights helpline, which is 0800 917 2368. There is now a fast-track system in place for any calls from individuals who appear to be in an unpaid internship that is in fact a job. Any such call is dealt with promptly, and it is also important to highlight that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs can enforce arrears of pay going back six years. I recognise that there is an issue with individuals who are at the very early stages of their career and who may feel that it is more difficult for them to speak out. However, if this is something that has happened to them—even up to six years ago—they can still come forward and make this point.

Of course, HMRC is also working to try to ensure greater awareness of the issue, so we are working alongside Intern Aware and key stakeholders such as the British Fashion Council to inform and educate interns and employers about when someone should be paid the minimum wage. In the spring, we will be delivering a campaign to support this work, aimed particularly at educating university students about these matters. Recently, there has been a particular focus from HMRC on interns in the fashion industry, and we are expecting a report back from HMRC on that activity shortly.

There is one other element of exploitation that happens in the fashion industry that is worth discussing. It is very positive that London fashion week has now committed to featuring only models who are over the age of 16, and Vogue magazine has pledged to do the same. Unfortunately, however, that positive step has not been replicated across the fashion industry as a whole. Away from the spotlight of London fashion week, there are still concerns, as has been highlighted in a number of documentaries, about dangerous situations that vulnerable young people—many of them still children—can find themselves in, particularly when there are trends for models who are in their early teens. It is important that the welfare of people working in the fashion industry is taken very seriously. I pay tribute to the excellent work done by Erin O’Connor, who has championed this issue within the industry by setting up her “model sanctuary” to give models somewhere that they can receive advice and support, and a place to be themselves, during London fashion week. That has been so successful that it has now been taken on by the British Fashion Council as part of the model lounge, which is part of London fashion week itself.

I will turn to the potential for growth in the fashion industry, because it is of course vital that we nurture the entrepreneurship that is so important to the fashion industry. The hon. Lady was right to point out that people who have the fantastic creative skills to be world-class designers may not automatically have the business acumen to go alongside those skills. We also need to recognise some of the challenges that small businesses face in accessing finance. That is why we are continuing to make a priority of improving access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises. We have put in place a package of measures to improve the supply of affordable credit to SMEs, including the funding for lending scheme and the £1.2 billion business finance partnership, to stimulate the development of alternatives to bank finance.

[Meg Hillier]

On that point, businesses in my constituency tell me that it is often still difficult for them to get money. We know that funding for lending is actually fuelling a lot of buy-to-let landlords, which is a different issue altogether. However, there is also a real need for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to look at licensing alternative forms of funding, such as crowd funding, which are popular for some of these small businesses. If the Minister cannot answer me now, perhaps she could write to me about her Department’s attitude to that issue and what it will be doing.

[Jo Swinson]

I thank the hon. Lady for that intervention. She is right to say that we need to be innovative in considering a range of different ways to free up finance. There is already a range of different ways in which the Government are doing it, but I am more than happy to take on board her suggestion and consider whether there are further steps to be taken along those lines.

Of course, we are also taking the first steps towards the creation of a Government-backed business bank, which will receive £1 billion of new Government funding, with £300 million being invested by the Government alongside private investors during the next two years to provide diverse sources of funding for SMEs. The bank will address long-standing structural gaps in the supply of finance to businesses. We also have the Get Mentoring project—getmentoring.org—which has recruited and trained 15,000 business mentors from the small business community. I encourage any young designer setting up a business to make use of that support.

In conclusion, the UK fashion industry is an important part of our heritage, and our unique and innovative designers are among the most recognised in the world. We are working hard to ensure that the climate is right for growth, to support UK manufacturing, and to ensure that future designers have the skills they need and that fledgling businesses have the support they require to grow. We are doing all that we can to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of fashion and design, and we are confident that we can build on our world-class reputation.

I thank the hon. Lady for bringing this issue to the attention of the House today. It has been a positive debate and I will happily get back to her on those additional points that she has raised.