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'Making Plymouth Great' Business Breakfast

The Rt. Hon. Alistair Darling MP,  Former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
Governor House Hotel, London,  14 November 2006

Introduction

Thank you for the invitation to speak to you this morning.

Plymouth is demonstrating its enthusiasm for Enterprise Week with a packed programme of events taking place. Congratulations to the Plymouth Herald, to the City Council and to the MPs.

I am sure that your energy and commitment will ensure this will help generate renewed focus on enterprise throughout the city and region. That’s important because we need to get younger people interested in enterprise and business. That is what this week is about. We do need to shout about our successes and there are many.

There has never been a better time to do business and there is never a better time to be entrepreneurial.

Right across the world there are massive changes. Globalisation is changing our business world. This does mean there are challenges. But there are huge opportunities for business leaders who are ready to seize them.

We face other big challenges. For example energy, Climate Change. But challenges that British business - by its history - shows it is ready to embrace. And here in Plymouth I have seen examples of this, for example the work at Plymouth Marine Laboratory.

Britain has always a nation of great innovation and enterprise. A dynamic place to start up a new business. Indeed, 1800 new businesses start up every working day.

Across Britain there are 600,000 more businesses and employment in small and medium sized enterprises has risen by over a million since 1997.

Their special contribution is driving change throughout the economy with new products, new processes, new ways of doing business and new jobs. Again there are examples here in Plymouth, for example at the Tamar Science Park I visited yesterday.

There are a record number of British entrepreneurs – including for the first time ever, more than a million self-employed women.

Many of these new businesses are home-based, using the internet to drive their business growth. A dynamic new business area in a new industry. This is good news for the South West.

Now the Government can’t create business. But it can and should create the conditions where business can grow and flourish.

Since 1997, we have built strong and mobile economy, which has strengthened the business environment. This has led to record continuous growth with employment at its highest level. Making sure that the UK remains one of the best places to do business in the world.

We have the longest period of low and stable inflation since the 1960s and historically low interest rates. We have sustained economic growth, for the last nine years – actually the longest period for 200 years. This matters to business and it is important to keep it.

We have got a lot going for us:

• In total, the economy has grown by 28 per cent since 1997.
• According to the World Bank, the UK is now the best place in the EU to do business
• The UK has been one of the fastest growing economies in the G7 in the past five years, growing faster than France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

And as a result, British businesses have had the opportunity to grow and invest. The picture is very good:

• The OECD says that the UK has the lowest barriers to entrepreneurships of all OECD countries.

We need to do more. The DTI offers a package of businesses advice and support. The Business Link website alone now attracts over five and a half million users every year. On energy, we’ve provided £20m to develop marine generation here in the South West.

Or assistance can be through financial support from initiatives like the Enterprise Capital Fund and the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme.

It is vital that we continually take stock of how we support business. How we build on our competitive edge. How we ensure the whole of Government is developing policies for a more enterprising UK. This is why we need to listen to business.

The Government has also listened to business groups when drawing up the Companies Bill. This will help ensure the UK remains one of the best places in the world to set up and run a business.

And it will help businesses save £250 million a year, including up to £100m for small businesses.

What We’ve Done for Plymouth

We need to help the South West, recognising its special needs. Good transport is of particular importance in the South West. The Local Transport Plan funding for this year for Plymouth was £5m.

In addition, £11.2m was provided for the re-alignment of the A386 north of Plymouth core northern gateway into the city.

Other parts of life - we have also invested in Plymouth through key social and regeneration initiatives:

The Devonport area of Plymouth has been allocated £48m from the New Deal for Communities initiative to tackle deprivation and social exclusion.

Through the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, improve performance at neighbourhood level of education, health, crime, housing and employment. All these are necessary to make sure Plymouth can move forward.

£23.8m has been committed since 1997 for projects under the Single Regeneration Budget to tackle social exclusion.

And for education the Government’s investment is seen through capital funding of more than £120m between 1998/99 and 2005/06. Education and Skills are vital to the city through its university and schools.

Also importantly for our youngest children to ensure they have the best start in life we are investing over £4m in revenue and capital funding to the ongoing development roll-out of Children’s Centres between 2006 to 2008.

Enterprise Week is so important.

We need to ensure we do everything we can to support tomorrow’s young entrepreneurs.

Enterprise Week, that we are celebrating today, is now establishing itself as a key part of this strategy. It aims to build on the increasing levels of interest in business and enterprise among young people.

It is the biggest ever Enterprise Week with over 2,000 events nationally.

Why the focus on young people? Research has found that the number of adults expecting to start a business more than doubles if they are given enterprise education or training earlier in life. And that the proportion who start up a business goes up by 75%.

At the heart of this year’s Enterprise Week is the message that enterprise is about having ideas and making them happen.

Enterprise Week is the focal point of the ‘Make Your Mark’ campaign, the first national campaign of its kind to kick-start an enterprise culture among young people in the UK.

It recognises that today’s young people need a wider range of skills and abilities. The ideas are there.

Plymouth has a programme of more than 20 different events. And it is playing a key part in your ‘Making Plymouth Great’ campaign.

I know that encouraging Enterprise among young people is also a key objective of the Plymouth Economic Strategy that you are launching today.

Right at the heart of your plan are measures to encourage entrepreneurship at all levels, with a particular emphasis on young people.

You are right to recognise the importance of looking to achieve still higher levels of success for children in education and lifting the aspiration and interest in entrepreneurship. Only by creating a knowledge culture among young people can we underpin the knowledge economy we need to create.

What is happening is a good example of the direction that we need to go in. Strengthening economies by helping to generate their own solutions and their own successes.

What I see in this city is a growing self-confidence. It is meeting head-on the challenge of making Plymouth a great business centre and keeping it there in the years ahead.

The development of an enterprise culture is essential.

Encouraging developments in new and established areas. For example creative industries where TwoFour Productions is now the largest TV production company outside London and just last month won the Devon and Cornwall Business Challenge 2006 award for innovation and growth.

Proof that you can build a successful company from outside the capital in a traditionally London centric sector.

You are also building on your traditional industries. Plymouth is fortunate to have two of the key players in Marine Engineering sector providing highly skilled jobs. DML (trade name Devonport Management Ltd), Plymouth’s biggest employer, and also Princess Yachts International.

All the ingredients are there for you to make Plymouth the enterprise capital for the south-west region, generating new jobs and new opportunities for all.

You have the self-confidence. Important that you build on what you’re good at and work together.

We’ll work with you to do that.