Mr Mandelson said:

"UK companies need to match the best in the world, by learning from the best in the world. They need to benchmark their performance and adopt best practice."

"The Government has an important role in helping business collaborate to raise their performance. The measures that I have set out in the White Paper will help achieve this."

Notes to Editors

Extending the automotive industry’s supplier development programme to other sectors: the SMMT’s Industry Forum, an industry-led partnership supported by DTI, aims to raise the sectorÕs competitiveness by delivering shop-floor improvement programmes to businesses in the automotive supply chain. DTI will fund up to 10 proposals from other sectors that want to adapt the Industry Forum model to meet their particular needs.

Backing the CBI’s Fit for the Futurecampaign: the CBI backed by DTI and supported by a wide range of cross sectoral partners launched a National Best Practice campaign on 14 December. The idea is to raise the profile of best practice and create the momentum to inspire others to follow suit.

P/98/1033 16 December 1998

"UK FIRMS MUST WORK TOGETHER FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS" - PETER MANDELSON Initiative to back biotechnology

A co-ordinated programme of action to promote creative collaboration between businesses, within and across industry sectors and throughout the regions was announced today by Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

Mr Mandelson said that company to company learning is essential if UK businesses were to compete effectively in the knowledge driven economy of the 21st Century.

The measures are set out the White Paper published today, ’Our Competitive Future: Building the Knowledge Driven Economy’.

The key measures to promote national and regional collaboration are:

Mr Mandelson stressed how collaboration with suppliers, customers, joint-venture partners, universities and between managers and employees is crucial to ensure business success.

Mr Mandelson said:

"Every business can benefit from collaboration. Look at Silicon Valley - a dynamic regional economy in which businesses rely on each other to solve shared problems but still compete intensely."

"Collaborative partnerships can expose businesses to best practice and innovative new ideas. Partnerships can help businesses develop technologically more complex, better designed products which are more effectively marketed and delivered - something which is often beyond many businesses operating alone."

"The challenge is one primarily for business. But through this White Paper, the Government remains committed to playing its part in promoting effective and successful partnerships."

Notes for Editors

Background on the measures are:

Setting up a team led by a Government Minister to promote clusters in biotechnology where clusters could be of national significance, a Government Minister will help co-ordinate action across Government and with business. The first of these teams will look at biotechnology clusters The Government is determined the UK should not lose its lead in Europe in the commercial exploitation of biotechnology and genome research.

Providing funds for Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) to promote collaborative strategies: the Government is establishing RDAs in England to promote economic development in the regions. The business-led RDAs will be lead bodies in the regions for co-ordinating inward investment, improving business competitiveness, skills development and regeneration. DTI will provide £10 million over three years to the Agencies to spend on priorities they identify for increasing competitiveness, such as supporting business partnerships, networks and business clusters.

Examining the planning system to ensure it encourages enterprise and promotes the needs of clusters: The Government will review how the planning system can best help promote the needs of clusters of businesses in growth industries and the implications of their expansion for other land users such as housing and transport infrastructure. The review will complement the ’Modernising Planning’ programme launched by the Deputy Prime Minister in January.

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P/98/1034 16 December 1998

MANDELSON ANNOUNCES MEASURES TO PROMOTE COMPETITION

New measures to open and modernise markets are set out in the White Paper ’Our Competitive Future - building the knowledge driven economy’, Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State for Trade announced today.

Mr Mandelson said that competition is the strongest spur to innovation and productivity, and modernising markets was a key element of the new industrial policy set out today.

New measures contained in the White Paper include:

a new consumer strategy to be launched in Spring 1999 to improve radically advice to consumers on their rights and be more effective in putting rogue traders out of business; and

Mr Mandelson said:

"Competitive markets underpin a dynamic economy. There is no greater incentive for a business to innovate and improve than the knowledge that if it does not match up to its customers’ expectations, its competitors will."

"That is why the Government is committed to opening up markets, cracking down on harmful anti-competitive behaviour and modernising markets so British business can exploit the opportunities presented by electronic commerce."

Mr Mandelson said the Government will review existing leglislation to ensure that the law does not contribute to the stigma of failure.

The measures are set out the White Paper published today, ’Our Competitive Future: Building the Knowledge Driven Economy’.

The key proposals are to:

Notes to Editors

1. The Competition Act 1998, which received Royal Assent in November, outlaws cartels and other anti-competitive agreements and the abuse of a dominant position. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) will have strong powers, including the power to impose penalties of up to ten per cent of UK turnover. The Government will provide OFT with an extra £15 million over three years to enforce the new legislation effectively.

2. DTI will issue a consultation document on merger regulation, canvassing views on the effectiveness of the current system and the case for reforms, early in 1999. The main current merger provisions are contained in the Fair Trading Act 1973.

3. Further details of the e-commerce strategy are set out in DTI Press Notice xx/xxx. "Benchmarking the Digital Economy", published alongside the White Paper, is available from [ChristianÕs number?] or at www.dti.gov.uk/comp/competitive.

4. The Telecommunications Act 1984 requires all those who run a telecoms system to be licensed. At that time there were expected to be only a few public telecoms operators. There are now over 270. Reforms will take account of the responses to the Green Paper on Convergence (Regulating communications: approaching convergence in the Information Age; CM4022) published in July. Consultation on the Green Paper finished at the end of November.

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P/98/1035 16 December 1998

MAJOR BOOST FOR ELECTRONIC COMMERCE Peter Mandelson announces action to get one million small businesses wired up to Internet

The regulatory framework for UK markets will be radically overhauled to meet the demands of electronic commerce, Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry said today.

Mr Mandelson also announced an extra £20 million funding for the DTI-led Information Society Initiative to help more small businesses take advantage of the opportunities opened up by these new technologies.

Mr Mandelson was speaking at the launch of the Competitiveness White Paper ÔOur Competitive Future: Building the Knowledge Driven EconomyÕ. The White Paper includes a range of measures to help the UK harness the power of digital technologies.

Mr Mandelson said:

"The programme I have announced today is bold, far-reaching and absolutely necessary. In the last century, Britain built its success through global leadership in the trade of physical goods. To succeed in the next century, Britain must become a leading trading nation on the Internet - which is now the single fastest growing marketplace in the global economy."

"That is why the White Paper sets a stretching target - to create in the UK the best environment in the world for electronic trading by 2002. And it is also why, alongside the White Paper, I am today publishing a separate report "Benchmarking the Digital Economy" - which makes an honest and hard-headed assessment of where we stand and what we need to do to become the best."

Measures announced in the White Paper to modernise UK markets for the Internet age include:

Mr Mandelson added:

"But it is not enough to create an Internet-friendly business environment. We need entrepreneurs who will seize and exploit the business opportunities which this opens up. That is why the Government is setting an ambitious new target - tripling the number of UK small businesses which are wired up to the digital marketplace to 1 million by 2002."

To help small businesses win in the digital economy, the White Paper commits £20 million new funding for the Information Society Initiative (ISI). This will: