Author: admin

HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Consumer and Industry to benefit from changes to Banking, Mortgage and General Insurance Regime [December 2001]
The press release issued by HM Treasury on 12 December 2001.

A better deal for consumers across a range of financial services together with a streamlining of regulation which will benefit business was announced today by Economic Secretary Ruth Kelly.

She set out the good progress made by the banks in implementing the recommendations of DeAnne Julius’s Review Group aimed at improving services to bank customers. Ruth Kelly also announced that the FSA is to regulate mortgage advice, a move called for by the Julius Group, consumer groups and industry, and, in parallel, the sale of general insurance products. These measures will ensure that a coherent regulatory framework exists.

The measures set out today will:
- Benefit millions of consumers by regularising standards and providing safeguards and minimum standards of mortgage advice;
- Benefit banking customers through easier account switching and clearer account information;
- Streamline and simplify regulation for mortgage advice and general insurance advice;
- Allow brokers to compete for insurance business in other EU countries.
Ruth Kelly said:

“Buying a mortgage is the biggest financial decision of most people’s lives, they need to get it right and high quality understandable advice is crucial. Regulation will ensure a high standard of advice is available across the board to the large number of people, 1.2 million in 2000, who take out mortgages every year. In the rare and unfortunate cases where things go wrong the Financial Ombudsman will be the single body for handling customer complaints.

“DeAnne’s review highlighted areas where improvements should be made to benefit banking customers. There has been a very constructive response with the majority of the recommendations being accepted by industry. The measures being taken forward will benefit customers, for example through making account switching easier and stimulating competition in personal banking.

“The Julius Review group argued that mortgage advice should be regulated, echoing the sentiments of many consumer groups and industry. We have listened to these views and after reviewing the policy believe regulation will bring benefits to both consumers and businesses.”

DeAnne Julius commented:

“I am delighted with the Government’s decision to regulate mortgage advice. This was supported unanimously by our Review Group, because we felt it would help both consumer and mortgage providers. I am also pleased that the banks have agreed to take on board the majority of our recommendations for changes in their self-regulatory codes. With the new cleaner process for code review I am hopeful that in due course those changes they have not yet accepted will also find favour.”

Ruth Kelly added:

“Many of the 12,500 UK mortgage brokers also sell general insurance. In order to maintain a consistent and streamlined approach, the sale of general insurance products will be regulated by the FSA. Brokers who deal in two or more lines of regulated business will deal with a single regulator, not several, and will be able to compete in European markets. Additionally the Government will look at insurance sold as part of a package with another product – for example, travel or extended warranty – to consider the implications of the new regime for them.”

“Today’s measures will benefit industry by simplifying and streamlining regulation. The watchword in developing the new frameworks will be proportionality. We and the FSA will be working closely with the industry and others to design a regime that understands the market, and is targeted precisely at maximising benefit to the consumer, and not loading industry and ultimately the consumer with unnecessary costs.”

“I am grateful to GISC and MCCB for all the hard work they have put in to raising standards in their respective industries. Today’s announcement is in no way a criticism of what both bodies have achieved. I hope that they will both be able to work closely with the FSA to ensure a seamless transition to the new regime.”

The timing and details for the implementation of regulation will be discussed with industry. It is anticipated that regulation for both mortgage and the sale of general insurance products will come into force simultaneously, following consultation by the FSA.
27/12/2022
HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : IMF Report on UK Economic Performance [December 2001]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 11 December 2001.

The “remarkable performance” of the UK economy “owes much to the government’s strong policy framework”, report the International Monetary Fund today. Concluding their recent examination of the UK economy, the IMF say that “the symmetric inflation targeting framework has enabled the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to respond promptly to demand shocks, including the recent global slowdown”, while “fiscal policy should continue to meet the high standards of prudence and predictability that have characterised it over the last few years.”

Commenting on the projections in last month’s PBR, the IMF say that GDP growth at 2-2½% in 2002 “is only slightly above [the IMF’s] central forecast”. Moreover, the “cyclically-adjusted overall deficits of about 1 percent of GDP over the medium term would not compromise the strong underlying fiscal position achieved in the late 1990s”.

The IMF conclude that “the budget and pre-budget reports, as well as the frequent consultations between the government and the public, in many respects set an international standard of best practice,” and support “the strengthening of the UK’s anti-money laundering rules, which are considered, in many respects, an international model.”

The IMF endorses many of the structural reforms the government has embarked on to raise growth in the UK, and describe the government’s strategy in this area as “appropriate”. Overall they conclude that “the track record of sound policy design and implementation in recent years bodes well for continued success in a more uncertain world economy.”

Commenting on the IMF’s statement, the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, said:

“I welcome this confirmation from the IMF that our prudent approach to economic policy leaves us better placed to withstand the ups and downs of the world economy. According to the IMF, the UK will grow faster than any other G7 country this year.

I also welcome the IMF’s support for the structural reform agenda we are pursuing to raise long term economic growth in the UK and improve productivity, which will mean rising living standards for all. As the IMF say, this agenda ‘should continue to be pursued vigorously.”

27/12/2022
Gordon Brown – 2001 Speech on Enterprise and the Regions

The speech made by Gordon Brown, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, in Manchester on 29 January 2001.

Introduction

It is a pleasure to be here in Manchester this morning.

For two centuries Manchester and the North West have been a world wide centre for manufacturing strength. This region led in the 19th Century and now it can lead again.

And let me say how pleased I am to be speaking here at UMIST. Founded early in the nineteenth century by the business community of Manchester, it enters the Twenty First Century a leading centre for scientific research, its links with business stronger than ever – promoting growth, jobs and opportunity for the North West region and beyond.

Today I want to show how in the North West and the other regions of our country, the high ideals and public purpose contained in the economic goal of 1944 can be achieved.

Full employment – defined as in 1944 as ‘high and stable levels of employment’ – was a reality for the country as a whole for twenty years after the Second World War.

But not only did rising unemployment in the 1970’s and beyond undermine these goals but so too did persistently higher unemployment in our regions

As recently as 1997, one in five working age households had no one in work in seven of our twelve regions and nations.

Some believe that full employment can be achieved only by a return to macroeconomic fine tuning.

Others believe that in the new more open economy governments cannot hope to meet the 1944 objectives.

I reject both the dogma of insisting on old ways and the defeatism of abandoning the objectives. But to achieve full employment in all the regions is a large and ever present challenge and demands new approaches not the old ways.

So since 1997 the new Government has been putting in place a new framework to deliver our growth and employment objectives.

Last year I set down four objectives:

– first: stability – a pro-active monetary policy and prudent fiscal policy to deliver the necessary platform of stability;

– second: employability – a strengthening of the programme to move the unemployed from welfare to work;

– third: productivity – a commitment to high quality long term investment in science and innovation, new technology and skills;

– fourth: responsibility – avoiding short termism in pay and wage bargaining across the private and public sectors, and building a shared sense of national purpose.

These conditions – requirements for stability, employability, productivity and responsibility – are and have always been the necessary conditions for full employment.

The first condition, stability, is needed to ensure a sustainable high demand for labour. The second, employability, promotes a sustainable high supply of labour. The third, raising productivity, provides a sustainable basis for rising living standards. And the fourth, responsibility in bargaining, ensures a sustainable basis for combining full employment with low inflation.

But there is a fifth condition I wish to discuss in detail today – the need for regionally balanced growth, essential if there is to be opportunity for all in all regions.

Now the first generation of regional and urban policies – starting in the thirties – amounted essentially to ambulance work – first aid measures, urgently needed assistance and relief in areas of high unemployment.

The second generation of regional policies came in the sixties when then the emphasis was on large capital grants and tax incentives for regions anxious to encourage mobile capital into our regions as inward investment.

Now we are entering a third generation of regional policies inaugurated by Stephen Byers, David Blunkett and John Prescott, where we concentrate on indigenous measures – strengthening, within the regions, the essential building blocks of self generating growth. And on tackling the imbalances that prevent economic strength:

– first, bridging the investment and enterprise gap;

– second, bridging the skills gap;

– third, bridging the technology gap, including support for e-commerce;

– fourth, bridging the employment gap.

Indeed, as these challenges suggest, now, as the economy starts to strengthen, is the perfect time to think not in a short termist way about our economic future but to think and plan long term; and to bring together strategic plans for our future.

And I want to suggest that with the creation of the new regional development agencies – for which I believe John Prescott deserves our congratulations – we are not only recognising the many regional centres in Britain today and giving them new strength and powers. But we are creating, at a regional level, the economic policy instruments of the future: the measures that will foster innovation, develop the skills for the twenty first century economy, build a strong enterprise culture open to all and help us lead in the digital revolution and ensure all of us benefit fully from our participation in Europe.

But the emphasis is not simply on local needs but on local initiative. Our reforms show that we are entering an era in which national government, instead of directing, enables powerful regional and local initiatives to work, where Britain becomes as it should be – a Britain of nations and regions where there are many and not just one centre of initiative and energy for our country.

With regional development agencies and the flexibilities we are offering them there is for the first time both a shared understanding of the challenges the region faces and a strategic means of meeting them.
Investment and enterprise

In our Pre Budget consultation we welcome further proposals for encouraging enterprise in high unemployment areas.

The 2001 Budget – and our future plans will continue this Government’s policies to offer greater incentives to business, remove unacceptable barriers that prevent people with enterprise getting on and, from the classroom to the boardroom, widen and deepen the spirit of enterprise in Britain.

The Government’s ambition is to make opportunity for all the foundation of a more dynamic enterprise economy, breaking free of the old dependency culture in high unemployment areas.

In an enterprise Budget we will consider extending capital gains tax relief and the 10p rate.

In an enterprise Budget we will consider extending our R and D tax credit by examining proposals to do so from the CBI, EEF and others interested in improving Britain’s R and D effort.

In an enterprise Budget we will consult on new reliefs for corporation tax including for intellectual property.

As we move to an enterprise Budget we will consult on capital gains tax relief for the sale of substantial shareholdings.

As we move to an enterprise Budget we are considering improvements in our enterprise management incentive scheme, the share options we offer new and dynamic companies.

As we move to an enterprise Budget we will consider new incentives for urban renewal and inner city development.

And an enterprise Budget means measures to encourage an enterprise culture in high unemployment areas where the greatest need is not more benefit offices but more businesses as we move from a dependency culture based on entitlements to a dynamic business culture based on enterprise.

Instead of acquiescing in the old giro culture – simply paying benefits to compensate people for their social exclusion – we must back success rather than accept failure. And to do that we must extend fiscal and other financial incentives that open up economic and business opportunity in high unemployment areas, and encourage and reward new enterprise.

If we are to achieve higher start-up rates in high unemployment areas, economic stability is critically important to business confidence, as we found in the early nineties when the recession not only destroyed existing businesses but discouraged new ones.

So in the Budget our aim is to create the stronger enterprise culture that America enjoys, reduce the costs of business failure and address the sharp regional and local divergences in small business creation.

Behind the creation of regional development agencies is our view that the way forward is one of empowering local people with skills and confidence.

Indeed, our old cities and estates should be seen as new markets with competitive advantages – their strategic locations, their often untapped retail markets, and the potential of their workforce.

And so it is right to put in place the best possible incentive structure to stimulate business-led growth as well as much bigger flows of private investment.

So, to meet the challenge of increasing private investment in high unemployment areas by one billion pounds, we will now consult before the Budget on targeted tax incentives in four areas – cuts in stamp duty, reduced business rates, changes in capital gains tax and a new community investment tax credit.

But changing our culture to one that favours enterprise in every area needs not just incentives but a real shift in attitudes too. And that will come about quickest if it starts, not in the boardroom, but in our schools.

I want every young person to hear about business and enterprise in school; every college student to be made aware of the opportunities in business; every teacher to be able to communicate the virtues and potential of business and enterprise.

I want businessmen and women to visit our schools and talk to their enterprise classes; I want every student to have a quality experience of working in a local business before they leave school. I want management training scholarships to be available even in the poorest areas and I want every community to see business leaders as role models.

Regional coordination and accountability

But let me say something more on our proposals for regional co-ordination – which will form our next five years’ programme for economic growth in our country – and the central role we see for regional development agencies as the strategic leaders of economic policies in the regions – in employment, skills, innovation and regeneration.

The New Deal has already brought into being new partnerships between companies, the world of education and training, and the employment service.

Regional approaches to the delivery of the New Deal and to training will become ever more important.

The enterprise centres mean companies, universities and government must work together.

The regional approach to venture capital funds, coordinated by the regional development agencies and the small business service, again requires business and government to work in partnership.

To benefit fully from the university for industry, companies, educational authorities, schools and colleges themselves will want to form new partnerships.

And local government – casting aside any idea that it should look inwards – must, as it looks outwards, be involved in all these initiatives.

And we are ensuring the resources and flexibilities that regional development agencies need, but in return we are demanding strenuous targets be met in skills, innovation, business creation, new technology and employment. This is the new regional policy – locally sensitive and locally delivered, local people meeting local needs through local agencies.

At every regional level, businesses, local authorities and the world of education will want to work together on their bids for funds and resources, and at the same time to make their case not just in Britain but abroad.

And in making this happen the new local and regional centres of initiative in this country will show that leadership in Britain can come from every regional capital as much as from London itself.

But as we develop regional policies that are locally generated and managed there has to be local and regional accountability too.

Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland moved from 1997 to elected bodies. The Manifesto on which this Government was elected set out the options for elected regional government in England where there is popular consent for it.

As we expand regional institutions – regional government offices, regional development agencies – so too we must expand regional accountability.

John Prescott and I believe that in the consideration of new and better regional systems of accountability we need a greater role for both the House of Commons and the regional chambers.

I hope that the regional chambers established in every region will hold annual hearings to examine the RDAS”’ annual reports and review progress against their published strategies – and report back on their findings. We should ensure they have the resources to meet this duty.

By extending the scope for region by region initiatives and by complimenting these with greater accountability at a regional level and through the select committee system in the Commons, we are improving our ability to ensure that regionally set objectives are met.

Combined with our national economic policy measures for stability, productivity, skills and responsibility, the third generation regional policy that I am describing is in my view the route to full employment in each region, that is employment opportunity for each region’s citizens.

More than that, these are the means by which Britain is becoming a Britain of regions and nations with a new dynamism and where for locally generated initiatives we learn anew from each other, and where our diversity can become a source not only of new energy but of national strength.

So our new development agencies both make sense of regional sentiment and respond to the challenges of the next millennium.

Regions building new strengths from the ground upwards.

Regions not looking in on themselves but looking outwards to the challenges of the global economy.

Regions in which we make the connections so that schools and colleges, companies and local authorities work in a coordinated way for the same objectives – addressing inequalities within our regions.

Conclusion

I believe what is happening in each region today is showing the growing vitality of a new Britain, where there are new local and regional centres of initiative leading Britain.

We are moving away from the old Britain of subjects where people had to look upwards to a Whitehall bureaucracy for their solutions – to a Britain of citizens where region to region, locality to locality we are ourselves in charge and where it is up to us.

And where as a result Britain becomes stronger as each nation and region learns from another.

In so many areas of our national life individual regions are leading the way.

And what a strong country we can be when we are enriched by the different cultures and centres of initiative which together make up Britain.

We are indeed stronger together, weaker apart.

So, this morning I have suggested how we can strengthen our regional and national economy.

I have said we must rediscover the national purpose that allows us to break from the old conflicts which have divided us.

I look forward to a Britain in which instead of public versus private, state versus market, management versus workers, we have public and private, government and markets, employers and managers and workforces working together for the high levels of growth and employment we need for long term prosperity.

I have pointed the way to full employment in this region in our generation.

It is a challenge for all of us, a challenge that together we can meet and surmount.

27/12/2022
HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Andrew Smith announces a scheme to fund summer placements in Whitehall [February 2001]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 1 February 2001.

ANDREW SMITH ANNOUNCES A SCHEME TO FUND SUMMER PLACEMENTS IN WHITEHALL

A scheme to fund ten academic summer placements in Whitehall, starting in June 2001, was announced by the Chief Secretary, Andrew Smith today. The aim of the scheme is to strengthen the links between the academic research community and Government policy development.

Andrew Smith said:

“This Government has worked with the research community from the outset, but we are very keen to build on this with new channels of communication between us. The contacts provided by these placements should help strengthen these links further and underpin effective Departmental policy formation.

I am very pleased that 5 central Government Departments have agreed to take part in this scheme, which closely follows a tried and tested system in the United States.”

Applicants are being invited to submit research projects that are relevant to policy formulation, with proposals either identifying emerging policy issues or aiming to increase understanding of existing ones. As well as the Treasury, DSS, DETR, DFEE and MAFF have agreed to take part.

Each placement will carry a grant of £10,000. Successful applicants will be expected to carry out at least two months of research, of which at least four weeks must be spent within the relevant Department.

27/12/2022
HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Brown hails new family tax cut – Putting Families first [February 2001]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 5 February 2001.

ALISTAIR DARLING OUTLINES NEW MEASURES FOR THE CHILD SUPPORT AGENCY

The Children’s Tax Credit – a family tax cut which will help 5 million families with children get up to £442 off tax bills – was launched today by Chancellor Gordon Brown, Social Security Secretary Alistair Darling and Paymaster General Dawn Primarolo.

A major £4.7 million national advertising campaign will encourage families to apply for the tax cut, helping them when they need it most – when children are growing up. A Helpline is available – 0845 300 1036 – for more information and help.

Gordon Brown said:

“All parents should have more support when they need it most – when children are growing up – and all, including absent parents, have a duty to fulfil their responsibilities. Our approach is firstly, to ensure the tax system acknowledges the costs of bringing up children – every family with children should have more support, improving family prosperity and reducing child poverty; second, we want to make it easier for parents to spend more time with their children by helping families balance work and home; and third, we want to ensure that all parents take seriously their responsibilities to their children, even where they are not living with them day-to-day.

Today, with the national advertising launch of the Children’s Tax Credit – our family tax cut – the tax system, which for years has ignored the very existence of children, is now recognising the very real costs of bringing up children. Building on the foundation of Child Benefit, paid to every one of 7 million mothers in the country, the new Children’s tax Credit is central to the new system of financial support for families.

The maximum amount of £442 a year is on top of Child Benefit – for a family on £30,000 a year, that’s the equivalent of nearly 2 pence off the basic rate of tax; for a family on average earnings of £25,000, it’s the equivalent of 2.5 pence; and for a family on £15,000, it’s equivalent to 5 pence off the basic rate. People should apply by the end of February to see the difference in their April pay packet.

But I want to do more to support families in the Budget, and to meet the needs of parents who wish to stay at home for longer after the birth of a child; getting people back into work with incentives such as WFTC and the 10p rate has been our priority, but now it is time to do more for mothers who want to stay at home, particularly in the first months and years of their young child’s life; I am confident that we will be able to take steps to improve arrangements for families facing additional costs and pressures where there are new born children.

Our approach, now and after the next Budget – rising Child Benefit for all, the family tax cut for millions, helping parents to balance work and family responsibilities, and ensuring all parents take responsibility for their children.”

Alistair Darling outlined the steps the Government has taken to ensure parents take responsibility for their children:

“Most parents are happy to meet their responsibilities, but a minority try to evade their duty, and by doing so deny children their right to a decent start in life. That is why our reform of child support is so important; over one million children will benefit when the new, simplified assessment system come into force at the CSA, getting more money, more quickly, to more children.

But we have to ensure those absent parents who evade their responsibilities do their best for their children. Our new powers, introduced this week, will ensure absent parents share in the care of their children. But in April, we will get tougher – courts will crack down on those who repeatedly avoid their responsibilities by removing driving licenses. A strong reminder that rights bring responsibilities, and a small price to pay to give children a better start in life.”

27/12/2022
HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain [February 2001]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 6 February 2001.

A committee including landscape designers, architects and art experts has been set up to advise on the most suitable location and preferred design for a fountain in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, and to supervise the detailed process leading to its installation.

The Fountain Design Committee will be chaired by the Hon. Rosa Monckton, a member of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Committee. It will advise the Memorial Committee on a suitable site for the fountain within one of London’s Royal Parks. The Memorial Committee will then announce its final choice of location.

The Memorial Committee believes that a fountain would be an appropriate additional memorial to complement the four commemorative projects already established. Once a suitable site has been chosen, the Fountain Design Committee will supervise a design competition for an appropriate fountain, taking account of landscape and other considerations particular to the selected site.

The most suitable designs will be submitted to the Memorial Committee for consideration before a final decision is taken and the installation process can begin.

It was also announced today that Lord Luce, the Lord Chamberlain to the Royal Household, will succeed Lord Camoys on the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Committee.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The terms of reference of the Fountain Design Committee are:

2. The Fountain Design Committee will advise the Memorial Committee on the choice of exact location and actual design of the fountain, and oversee the whole process from the preparation of the specification, the selection of the design team, consultation with interested parties, to the work to construct the fountain.

The members of the Fountain Design Committee are:

Hon Rosa Monckton (Chair)

Chair of ‘Kids’ charity for disabled children; close personal friend of Diana, Princess of Wales and member of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Committee.

Richard Cork

Chief art critic, Times; former trustee Public Arts Development Trust; member advisory group on the Vacant Plinth in Trafalgar Square; exhibition organiser.

Edward Jones AADipl Hons RIBA

Architect in private practice: projects include Royal Opera House; buildings for Henry Moore Foundation, Leeds; National Portrait Gallery; and housing in New Delhi.

James Lingwood

Co-Director, Artangel Trust, which commissions and produces major new works by contemporary artists, eg Rachel Whiteread’s House.

Sandra Percival

Director, Public Art Development Trust, which promotes commissioning, restoration and preservation of art in public, and public education about art in public places.

David Sylvester CBE

Former Chairman, Arts Council of Great Britain; member of the South Bank Board; exhibitions curator, writer on art.

William Weston

New Chief Executive, Royal Parks Agency; previously Secretary to the Governors and General Manager of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Kim Wilkie

Principal, Kim Wilkie Associates; landscape design expert; member of the Royal Parks Advisory Board.

Dr Giles Worsley PhD FSA

Architecture correspondent, Daily Telegraph; member of Somerset House Trust, Building Committee of the Trustees of the National Gallery; former member Royal Fine Art Commission.

27/12/2022
Andrew Smith – 2001 Speech to the Better Public Buildings Conference

The speech made by Andrew Smith, the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, on 6 February 2001.

Good Morning,

It is important that we involve people across the whole of the public sector in promoting good design, and I am glad to see such interest at today’s conference.

It is important to recognise that well designed buildings can reduce the overall costs of providing services, and they can increase the effectiveness of those services. Good design is fundamental to value for money. If we thought that ?best value? meant ?cheap?, and ignored the long-term savings good design can bring, we would be making a false economy. Best value is not the lowest price, but the best combination of whole life costs and quality. That doesn’t mean, of course, that the highest cost is best value either.

Modernising Public Services

The benefits good design brings are more important now than at any time in the last twenty years: Public services have faced years of neglect by previous Governments, and we have been faced with the challenge of investing in these services and in Britain’s infrastructure.

When we took office, we faced both a record of chronic under investment in public services and a £27 billion deficit on the public finances, so our first task was to create stability and sustainable public finances. We have made the tough choices we needed to. We have set clear fiscal rules over the economic cycle: and today we not only have low inflation and stable growth but sound public finances and the national debt falling towards 30 per cent of GDP.

It is this sustained improvement in our public finances that makes possible the prospect of sustained investment in our public services. In the three-year spending review last summer, we announced an additional £4 billion of capital spending this year, and net investment by the public sector is set to double over the next three years.

This is a massive investment in rebuilding public services, and we expect a return for that investment. The public expects and deserves high quality services to be delivered on time, and the taxpayer deserves that they are delivered at the best value and to budget. Our overriding aim is always to secure better value for money in all forms of procurement – not as a cost-cutting exercise, but as a way of delivering more, better services and facilities from public investment.

Benefits of Good Design

Good public buildings are a demonstration of our respect for public spaces and communities. Landmark buildings, like the Tate Modern, can give new life and new identity to areas, and create new and valued public spaces. But there is room for better design in all public buildings, no matter how small.

I am particularly interested in the role of good design in regenerating our most disadvantaged communities. The air of neglect, abandon, and hopelessness which blights poor areas is both a consequence and a cause of poor design as well as low investment – a vicious and debilitating circle of degeneration.

Turning this into reverse in partnership with local people and businesses is one of our most urgent priorities. Good design, coupled with investment in everything from primary care facilities, to children’s play areas, to business start-up units will send a powerful and confidence-boosting signal that we care, we are listening to them, we are involving them and that we are making a difference.

The benefits of good design are not just skin-deep. Well designed buildings can better serve the needs of the people who use them.

They can reduce the costs of providing services over the whole life of a building, they can have a positive impact on the welfare and the productivity of the staff who work in them.

There is a strong correlation between a high quality learning environment and good teaching, attitudes and behaviour. Well designed schools can have lower truancy rates and improved attendance, and better design in schools can also free staff and resources for the activities that matter. For example, one primary school found that by building a new one-storey building, it needed fewer teachers monitoring breaks, and three fewer lunchtime assistants. These are savings which can be put into educating children instead.

Another study, by the University of Sheffield, of a purpose-built psychiatric unit in Hove, found significant improvements in outcomes for patients. Treatment times were reduced by 14%, patients spent less time in enforced isolation, and there were far fewer attacks on staff. Good design has added a great deal of value for both staff and patients, and this has delivered a significant improvement in terms of cost.

Good design can actually save money. Well designed buildings are appropriate to the use they will be put to: their staff have a better working environment, and at the early stages, designers can take account of the costs of operating the building over its whole life.

By taking account of the whole-life costs of a building at the earliest design stages, we can reduce them. Design improvements which improve the effectiveness of staff, or decrease the costs of running and maintaining a building, can pay for themselves many times over during the lifetime of the building.

Taking an example from the private sector: BAA’s (British Airports Authority) office buildings had design and construction teams working together from the outset, and the result is an overall saving of 30% of costs. The public sector can and should learn from private sector projects like this.

To make the most of the benefits of good design we do need a new approach to procurement, and a commitment at the highest. We need committed and aware procurers, well-constructed specifications, and integrated teams of designers and constructors, who can work together to ensure the final building does its job well, on time, and on budget.

What Government is doing to promote good design

PPP and PFI have also forced the public sector to raise their game, and become a better partner and a better procurer of public services. To get the right outcome for the citizen and the taxpayer, the public sector needs to be able to specify its requirements clearly, to negotiate with the private sector on equal terms and ensure the best value for taxpayers. And because PPP and PFI are not appropriate in all circumstances, we need to draw on our experience to deliver better deals and better buildings when using conventional procurement options.

The Office of Government Commerce has been set up by this Government to promote best practice in all sorts of procurement across the public sector: the OGC has already produced the Better Public Buildings document with DCMS. It will help departments with their own projects, and where a Government-wide approach is needed it will manage or facilitate commercial relationships on behalf of departments.

If the public sector is to make the most of good design, it is important that we are able to accurately asses the benefits of proposed designs. The Treasury’s ‘Design in PFI’ guidance has improved understanding of these benefits.

The creation of CABE, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment in 1999, was another important step, and we welcome the work of the Construction Industry Council and CABE in developing key performance indicators and in providing help and advice on design and design procurement to public sector organisations.

Prime Ministers Award

Procuring better designed public buildings needs a strong commitment to good design from the very top. That applies to central Government, as well as to individual agencies and authorities. The Government is committed to better design, and that commitment will be carried forward by fourteen Ministerial Design Champions, who will drive forward better design in their departments.

The number of public buildings which are outstanding examples of design, construction, and delivery, is growing every year. These embody high quality at reasonable cost and represent best value to the procurers, the users, and the public. To recognise these achievements, and as another sign of our determination to improve design, I am very pleased to announce today the ?Prime Ministers Better Public Building Award.”

This award reflects the Prime Ministers personal interest in excellence in public buildings, and his commitment to raising the standard of public building projects by identifying and rewarding high-quality design and construction. The award will made to the most outstanding public building, and will be announced at the British Construction Industry awards on 24th October, the UK’s premier accolades for all-round excellence in design, construction delivery and performance.

The award will be sponsored by CABE and OGC on behalf of all of Government, and it will be administered and judged under the aegis of the BCIA. The British Construction Industry awards have been made annually since 1988. They are promoted by the Daily Telegraph and the magazines The Architects Journal and New Civil Engineer, and have an extremely rigorous judging process, culminating with detailed visits to the short-listed projects during which all those responsible – client, designers, and contractor – are put through their paces. – The Judging panel is made up of eminent architects, engineers and contractors and always chaired by a heavyweight representative of the client sector – this year, it will be Sir Stuart Lipton, chairman of CABE.

Entry forms will be available from the 22nd February, so I would like to invite you to enter for this important new award, any new public buildings projects of any size which you are proud of, whether as a client, a designer, a builder or a user. To qualify they need to have been completed and brought into use in 2000.

Conclusion

Prudent, targeted long-term public investment is not only a social good, but, in a changing and often insecure world, it is an economic necessity. It is only by investment in our frontline public services and infrastructure that we can equip ourselves for future economic challenges.

The Government has already substantially increased capital spending, and we are determined that this spending should go as far as possible, to give the public the high-quality public services they deserve, and to create buildings and facilities we can all be proud of. There is a great deal we can gain from better designed buildings, and with your help and your commitment, I look forward to seeing many more outstanding public buildings in the future.

27/12/2022
HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Andrew Smith announces new Prime Ministers’s award for the most outstanding public building [February 2001]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 6 February 2001.

A new design award the “Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award” was announced by the Chief Secretary Andrew Smith today in a speech in London to the Better Public Buildings Conference. The award reflects the Government’s commitment to raising the standard of public building projects by identifying and rewarding high quality design and construction.

Andrew Smith said:

“The number of public buildings which are outstanding examples of design, construction, and delivery, is growing every year. These embody high quality at reasonable cost and represent best value to the procurers, the users and the public.

To recognise these achievements, and as another sign of our determination to improve design, I am very pleased to announce today the ?Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award?.

This award reflects the Prime Minister’s personal interest in excellence in public buildings, and his commitment to raising the standard of public building projects. The award will be made to the most outstanding building, and will be announced at the British Construction Industry awards on 24 October.

The award will be sponsored by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and the Office of Government Commerce on behalf of all of the Government, and it will be administered and judged under the aegis of the BCIA.”

27/12/2022
HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Review of financial regulation in the Carribean Overseas Territories and Bermuda: Implementing recommendations [February 2001]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 8 February 2001.

The Caribbean Overseas Territories and Bermuda have now each provided a formal response to the recommendations made in KPMG’s review of financial regulation, which was published on 27 October 2000.

Noting the responses of the Overseas Territories, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Melanie Johnson, said:

“The Overseas Territories have now explained how they plan to respond to KPMG’s recommendations. I have made it clear that the establishment of independent regulatory authorities, of effective powers to assist investigations by overseas authorities, and of any necessary enhancements to the laws and systems which combat money laundering are essential elements in establishing properly regulated financial centres in the Overseas Territories.

“These overdue measures need to be in place by the end of September 2001. The Overseas Territories themselves agreed when the review was published that these three priorities should substantively be in place by then, and I expect full delivery of their promises.

“I also expect to see KPMG’s other recommendations implemented by the end of 2001. This is essential if the Overseas Territories are to satisfy the international community and standard-setting bodies that they conduct their financial business according to international requirements. The UK fully supports a number of international initiatives which make it clear that counter measures will be taken against persistently non-compliant offshore financial centres.”

Baroness Scotland, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office responsible for the Overseas Territories, added:

“I welcome the high level commitments from the Caribbean Overseas Territories and Bermuda to address the KPMG recommendations. Financial services is a competitive sector, and the UK Government is keen that the Overseas Territories will attract quality business seeking a well-regulated environment, based on the prevailing rules, laws and good practice internationally.

“The UK Government will continue to provide advice and assistance to help the six Overseas Territories concerned to achieve full compliance with the principles and guidelines in the KPMG report. There will be a process of regular review and dialogue over the next twelve months to ensure the published implementation plans are substantially implemented by the end of 2001.”

27/12/2022
Gordon Brown – 2001 Speech at the Nottingham Business Centre

The speech made by Gordon Brown, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, in Nottingham on 9 February 2001.

Introduction

It is a pleasure to be here in Nottingham this morning and I am particularly pleased to be here in the Nottingham Business Centre opened fifteen years ago by John Smith, created out of what was once the headquarters of Raleigh and now a thriving centre for new businesses – a regeneration that maintains and now extends the spirit of enterprise for which this city and region is rightly famous round the world and I am delighted too to have the opportunity to visit the East Midlands, a region where in the last four years 40,000 more people have found jobs, where because of the efforts of employers in this region youth unemployment has fallen by 20 per cent and long term unemployment has fallen by 70 per cent.

And I think it important to record that vacancies – at up to 60 thousand – are at a record level, today over 50 per cent higher than what they were even at the peak of the boom in the late eighties.

Inner City 100 Initiative

It is fitting that here I am able to launch this morning the nominations for the Inner City 100. This exciting and unique initiative is an important part of our drive to open up enterprise to all through celebrating and show-casing the top 100 business successes in our most challenged inner cities – including here in Nottingham and in Leicester.

IC 100 will show that even the most disadvantaged inner cities are not the enterprise “no-go” areas of the past, but the investment opportunities of the future. It will start to change the way that we see these areas and the way these areas see themselves.

Inner City 100 brings together a powerful partnership from across Britain, including the Regional Development Agencies, the Small Business Service, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the New Economics Foundation and Financial Times which will publish the final top 100 list in the autumn.

And I am grateful to all those involved and hope that business leaders and local representatives across the country will give their support.

I look forward to hearing about the first nominations in a few minutes.

I would like to thank you all for coming to this gathering of businessmen and women, academics, representatives from the Regional Development Agency together with respected Members of Parliament – great advocates in Whitehall for the needs of this area – at the start of our pre-Budget consultation roadshows.

And let me say this pre-Budget consultation, one of many to come in the next few days and weeks, is a vital part of the modern Budget process.

A few years ago the Budget process was shrouded in total mystery. By the time the Budget emerged from the red box on Budget day, Treasury ministers had spent many weeks in what was called “Budget purdah” – making no speeches, no appearances to listen or discuss the economy and insulated from public views and public scrutiny. A Budget untouched by consultation.

And sometimes the results showed.

But I believe a modern economy requires a modern Budget process. If we are to face the challenges of the global economy we must face them together – Government, business, local communities – in an open and consultative process – discussing ideas, listening to views, seeing at first hand what is needed, where the gaps in economic policy are and discussing with those who know best, those who created the best, how best they can be filled.

And there is a special reason today for a more strenuous pre-Budget consultation. As I said in my Pre-Budget Report statement, our hard-won and newly won stability now offers Britain a unique opportunity we can either seize or squander – the opportunity to build from that platform of monetary and fiscal stability, low interest rates and financial discipline, the high and sustained levels of productivity growth that are essential to long term prosperity. And so today I want to talk today about the drivers of economic growth – skills, innovation, it investment, the enterprise culture itself – and how a modern regional economic policy based on local people making local decisions about local needs can further that.

If we look back on our history there have been three generations of regional economic policy:

The first generation of regional and urban policies – starting in the thirties – amounted essentially to ambulance work – first aid measures, urgently needed assistance and relief in areas of high unemployment.

The second generation of regional policies came in the sixties when then the emphasis was on large capital grants and tax incentives for regions anxious to encourage mobile capital into our regions as inward investment.

And now we are entering a third generation of regional policies, where we concentrate on indigenous measures – strengthening, within the regions, the essential building blocks of self generating growth. And on tackling the imbalances that prevent economic strength:

First, bridging the investment and enterprise gap;
Second, bridging the skills gap;
Third, bridging the technology gap, including support for e-commerce;
Fourth, bridging the employment gap.

Start-Up Rates

Let me give one example.

All around us here in the Nottingham Business Centre we see examples of successful entrepreneurs. But that is not the case everywhere.

Over the last two decades, small business creation rates have varied between regions in a dramatic way.

Start up rates in 1999 ranged from 21 new VAT registrations per 10,000 citizens in the North East to 66 per 10,000 citizens in London. And the rate in the East Midlands was 34 per 10,000 citizens, around half the London rate, below the UK average.

These figures show not only a gap in performance which we must explain but also the potential for each region, not just for business creation but for additional jobs.

If the level of business in every region was the same as the national average there would be 135,000 more businesses registered for VAT across the UK. And as Treasury analysis shows that every extra VAT registration creates on average 3.7 new jobs this would mean around half a million additional jobs in some of the poorest areas of the country.

So we have a long way to go. So the Budget focus on measures to encourage enterprise and entrepreneurship, especially in high unemployment areas and regions of the country, will include consulting on new tax incentives for business development and spurring the enterprise culture.

Research shows that the recession of the early nineties not only destroyed existing businesses but discouraged new businesses – the number of small businesses starting and growing fell by a third and the crisis of confidence continued through most of the nineties.

If we are to achieve higher start-up rates, economic stability is critically important and we need to build from a platform of stability and steady growth. That is why when we came into power we made the Bank of England independent, ensuring that interest rate decisions are taken in the best long-term interests of the economy, not for short-term political considerations.

Inflation is now at historically low levels, long term interest rates are around their lowest for thirty five years and business investment has risen.

Yesterday’s interest rate cut is possible because we have the lowest inflation rate for 30 years and because, in recent years, despite the rise in oil prices we have, with monetary and fiscal discipline, managed to keep inflation under control.

So, through our macroeconomic policies, we are building the best foundation for stability and balanced economic growth throughout Britain.

But stability is a necessary but not sufficient condition of business success. Now that we have greater stability, the next stage is to build through measures that improve investment, innovation, it and infrastructure and skills a stronger enterprise culture. Investment

Because we believe investment in enterprise is the key to success in the new economy, we have cut small companies tax from 23p to 20p, introduced a starting rate of small business tax at 10 pence in the pound, cut mainstream Corporation Tax from 33p to 30p to its lowest ever level, cut Capital Gains Tax to 10p for long term investments and introduced accelerated tax allowances at 40 per cent for small and medium sized businesses and at 100 per cent for it that are of special help to manufacturing.

As we prepare an enterprise Budget we will consider extending Capital Gains Tax relief and the 10p rate, and consult on new reliefs for corporation tax including for intellectual property. And as we move to an enterprise Budget we will consult on Capital Gains Tax relief for the sale of substantial shareholdings, and improvements in our Enterprise Management Incentive scheme, the share options we offer new and dynamic companies.

And to further encourage investment in the regions, where business investment has been rising but not evenly and because one of the gaps is in the venture capital market in regions especially for risk ventures, we are proposing a regional venture capital fund, which will provide early stage venture capital for this region’s growing businesses, the world leaders of tomorrow – providing an estimated £120 million over the next 3 to 5 years. Innovation

The second driver of growth is innovation, which is now, more than ever, the key to higher productivity. It is said that two thirds of new growth comes from innovation and it is our aim to ensure that British inventions are developed in Britain and manufactured in Britain, creating growth and jobs in Britain.

The seedbed is basic science. So we are increasing spending on science by 5.4 per cent a year, including our one billion pound public private partnership with Wellcome to modernise science infrastructure; and to transform British inventions into British-made products, we announced a £60 million pounds University Challenge Fund.

And to encourage an entrepreneurial culture in our universities and technology transfer from the science lab to the marketplace, we are setting up new Enterprise Centres – world class centres, both for fostering commercialisation of research and new ideas and for incorporating teaching of enterprise in science and engineering curricula. And I am pleased that Nottingham is one of the universities that has taken up this science enterprise challenge through the new Institute of Enterprise and Innovation.

And through our higher education reach out funding we encouraging universities to forge links with local communities and to respond to the needs of business. And again universities here in the East Midlands have bid successfully for money from this fund – over one and a half million pounds for Nottingham university and 1.1 million for Loughborough University which I will be visiting later this morning.

And to offer the best incentives for company research, we are consulting on an extension of our new research and development tax credit. Today it underwrites nearly a quarter of small business r&d costs even before a penny in profit is made. Some have suggested we extend this to larger companies and we are interested to hear your views.

Skills

The third driver of growth grows in importance every day: the skills of the people. And in each region we need nothing short of the long overdue revolution in education, skills and training. I thank companies for their support for the New Deal which has given a new start to 50 thousand young people in the region, 25 thousand of whom have moved into work. And here in Nottingham alone 6,000 of the long-term unemployed have participated in the New Deal.

But because we recognise there are special labour market needs in individual towns and cities where we must match the skills employers need to the training of those who need skills we are developing through the Regional Development Agencies and other local and regional bodies, local employment plans – and looking at how to meet future skills and employment needs.

There is also a local action team for jobs in Nottingham operated by Working Links and alliance between the Employment Service, Cap Gemini Ernst and you and Manpower plc, working in partnership with the city council to help people into work.

But our economic future is born in the schools and universities and not only are we increasing spending on education by over five per cent a year in real terms over the next three years but we are investing in your world class universities here in the East Midlands.

We want to make the most of all our nations potential and talent, investing not only in some of the potential of some of our young people, but investing to make the most of all of the potential of all of our young people.

Here in the East Midlands the percentage of sixteen year olds in the East Midlands achieving five GCSEs at grade A-C is just 45 per cent, below the national average and the national target of fifty per cent by 2002. We must do more, so David Blunkett has set up 6 Education Action Zones in the region, partnerships between groups of schools, businesses, parents, and local education authorities. And the New Deal for schools has already helped 1,400 schools in the region. And over the next three years, schools in the East Midlands will receive around 250 million through the New Deal.

And as we start the new millennium, we must equip all our companies and all our people for the newest and most decisive economic challenge of the 21st century – mastering information technologies, from the pc to the internet, from e-mail to e-commerce.

Under our National Grid for Learning Standards Fund, Nottingham was allocated a million pounds this year to invest in information technology and next year spending will be £1.3 million.

The proportion of businesses in the East Midlands region that either have a website or frequently use e-mail has increased significantly from 54 per cent in 1999 to 76 per cent last year.

But further progress needs to be made Only 24 per cent of businesses are trading online. And in terms of increased access to the internet at home the region still lags behind with only 23 per cent of homes connected.

So the region will benefit from our £1.7 billion plan for a computer learning centre in every community, 1,000 in all throughout Britain. And they will be in schools, colleges, libraries, in internet cafes and on the high street.

In the first phase, 19 centres will be located in the region and run by numerous providers, including local community groups. And two of these are already open here in Nottingham.

Our targets for the new economy are ambitious. Within three years, thousands more small businesses able to benefit from e-commerce. A whole new network of computer learning with one purpose only, that the whole region is equipped for the information age.

Infrastructure And Transport

The fourth driver of regional growth where we need to do more is improvements in infrastructure – tackling a long term under-investment by doubling transport investment immediately and then through a unique private public partnership investing £180 billion pounds over 10 years to improve motorways trunk roads, and rail services.

The Private Finance Initiative is also helping to modernise public services in the East Midlands with over £76 million worth of PFI investment in the region – including a project worth £20 million at the Queen’s Medical Centre here in Nottingham – since 1997 and over 450 million more in procurement.

Enterprise Culture

Finally, let me turn to the other great driver of growth- the enterprise culture. Survey evidence published by the London Business School yesterday shows that while 1 in 10 people in the US are trying to start a new business, only 1 in 33 are in the UK. The gap in activity is particularly noticeable among women – currently under-represented in both self employment and business start-ups, particularly in comparison with the US: less than a third of those registered as self-employed in the UK are women and only 35 per cent of new enterprises are run by women. And again there is variation by region – in some areas fewer than 20 per cent of those who are self-employed people are female. Here in the East Midlands the figure is 29 per cent.

Last year’s global entrepreneurship monitor found that UK start-ups would rise by fifty per cent if the start-up rate amongst women matched that of men.

So that is why we must act to encourage more women to start and to grow their own businesses.

Already there are innovative projects in place that we can build on and learn from-

In Glasgow, the Wellpark Enterprise Centre, providing information, advice and business support to women either in business or wanting to go into business, as well as a resource centre and on-site nursery.

In Norwich, the Women’s Employment, Enterprise and Training Unit – offering a range of services to keep women informed and to enable them to improve their prospects of finding employment including enterprise courses and access to loan funds.

And WIN – Women In the Network, active in Scotland and the North East providing support, including on-line support for women starting and developing their own businesses.

Among our measures to promote entrepreneurship amongst women is the £96 million pound Phoenix Fund which has already allocated a substantial amount of money to a number of projects aimed at helping women start up businesses, and we will build on this in the spring when the Small Business Service will be launching a new women’s online business centre.

And let me turn specially to the challenge faced in some of our high unemployment areas where business creation has often run at one sixth of the wealthier cites and towns.

In high unemployment areas economic prosperity will not come from a return to the old ways which have failed: neither an old style benefits approach which has ignored the causes of poverty and unemployment – and not invested in education, training, jobs and business development. Nor a bricks and mortar only approach which, with enterprise zones, targeted subsidies for property development at the expense of help for enterprising local people.

To tackle the causes of unemployment and low economic activity, we need a radical new approach encouraging business development and an enterprise culture and I am pleased that with us today is Sir Ronald Cohen whose Social Investment Taskforce report on stimulating enterprise and investment in disadvantaged communities is the subject of my pre-Budget consultation.

Instead of acquiescing in the old giro culture – simply paying benefits to compensate people for their social exclusion – we must back success rather than accept failure. And to do that we must extend fiscal and other financial incentives that open up economic and business opportunity in high unemployment areas, and encourage and reward new enterprise.

Indeed, our old cities and estates should be seen as new markets with competitive advantages – their strategic locations, their often untapped retail markets, and the potential of their workforce.

And so it is right to put in place the best possible incentive structure to stimulate business-led growth as well as much bigger flows of private investment.

To spur economic activity, we are proposing a number of new incentives.

First to secure development, we are proposing stamp duty exemption for all properties in our most disadvantaged communities;

Accelerated tax relief for cleaning up contaminated land;
Vat cuts to reduce the costs of residential property conversions;
Tax relief to bring empty flats over shops back into use.
And we said we would consult on:

A further business rate relief for small business in assisted areas;
And to secure new business development particularly by reducing the cost of raising money . We are discussing with the banks and considering a new and generous tax credit for community investment;
And the creation of the first community development venture fund.
And we are going beyond this: not just micro-finance for enterprises who cannot access mainstream sources of finance but advice and a national network of mentors to give entrepreneurs all the help and encouragement they need.

Anyone anywhere who seriously wants to start a business will be able to get a free package of advice, information and access to mentoring through the Small Business Service, worth up to £500.

And in the high unemployment areas of the country, we will support intensive programmes of pre-start training, advice and mentoring, with new incubator units in every region. A package worth up to £2000 for every start-up.

The Regional Development Agencies and the local authorities can also make a vital contribution to fostering an entrepreneurial culture. And I pay tribute today to the work of Derek Mapp, an entrepreneur himself and the Chair of the East Midlands Regional Development Agency.

As we enter this new generation of regional policies strengthening, within the regions the essential building blocks of self-generating growth, the capacity to innovate, invest, build skills, match the unemployed to jobs available, we are offering development agencies new flexibilities, but in return we are demanding strenuous targets be met in skills, innovation, business creation, new technology and employment. This is the new regional policy – locally sensitive and locally delivered, local people meeting local needs through local agencies.

But changing our culture to one that favours enterprise in every area needs not just incentives but a real shift in attitudes too. And that will come about quickest if it starts, not in the boardroom, but in our schools.

I know how many schools and businesses in this region are making headway in advancing the enterprise culture but I want every young person to hear about business and enterprise in school; every college student to be made aware of the opportunities in business; every teacher to be able to communicate the virtues and potential of business and enterprise. And I want businessmen and women to visit our schools and talk to their enterprise classes; I want every student to have a quality experience of working in a local business before they leave school. I want management training scholarships to be available even in the poorest areas and I want every community to see business leaders as role models.

Conclusion

So the 2001 Budget – and our future plans – will continue this Government’s policies to offer greater incentives to business, remove unacceptable barriers that prevent people with enterprise getting on and, from the classroom to the boardroom, widen and deepen the spirit of enterprise. We can and must do more. So in this and in other areas in this pre-Budget consultation we welcome your views

I believe that out of our discussions will emerge an even stronger consensus on the need for both stability and for higher investment in skills innovation technology and our infrastructure. And on the need for a strong enterprise culture. Out of dialogue consensus, and out of dialogue and consensus, a stronger partnership, working together for our shared goal – a more prosperous East Midlands and a more prosperous Britain.

27/12/2022