In the House... Speeches in the House of Commons

Mr. Lawrie Quinn (Scarborough and Whitby): I echo other hon. Members who have welcomed the opportunity to debate this important subject. I speak on behalf of the fishing communities of Whitby and Scarborough. I am sure that my hon. Friend the Minister knows that there are roughly 1,000 onshore jobs connected with the fishing industry in my constituency. Unlike the 40 per cent. reductions that have been experienced in Scotland, we have experienced a 14 per cent. reduction in landings. The reduction has, to some extent, been mitigated by an increase in shellfish--a direct consequence of the northwards migration of fish such as cod, which benefits shellfish.

Whitby, which is well known to many parliamentarians, is synonymous with fishing and sea fishing. I am concerned on my constituents' behalf about the socio-economic impact of reductions on such a small community. It is evident that, throughout history, the fishing industry has comprised people from the private sector who have responded positively to challenges and change. However, since the 1930s, there has been a serious decline in sea fishing, especially in Whitby and Scarborough. Partly as a response, the families involved have been inclined to diversify and find other ways of responding to immediate challenges.

I congratulate Scarborough borough council on its recent work in the spirit of diversification and finding other ways to make a living. The council recently established the Yorkshire coast fishing forum, and I am grateful to the secretariat of that organisation, especially Mr. Duncan Amos. He took the job after a considerable period in the Canadian fishing industry and first-hand experience of its failure, which involved 45,000 jobs. I hope that he is not preparing for a similar failure here. The impact will be no less considerable in my constituency, unless concerted action is taken. I am disappointed that Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency in Yorkshire, does not appear to recognise the importance of the issue for part of my constituency and its community. Wards in Scarborough and Whitby immediately associated with the fishing community are the top 10 unemployment wards in the region. A considerable decline has already taken place.

I think it was the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Mr. Salmond) who stated the need for some sort of national initiative. I support that approach. The problem is no less significant to my community and to those others represented in the Chamber than was the possible failure of Rover is to its local community. It is time that we, as a nation, thought about taking concerted action in the form of a taskforce. I recall the Coalfield Communities Campaign; perhaps Members of Parliament should consider setting up a fishing communities organisation to lobby in a similar way.

There has been diversification over the past 70 years in my constituency. My hon. Friend the Minister will know that the recreational side of sea fishing is now important: in Whitby alone, it contributes about £2 million annually to the local economy. I ask my hon. Friend to consider the impact that any quota arrangement would have on that vital part of the community. The matters are linked: the families involved in fish processing are the ones that are involved in recreational activities. In a community of about 16,000 people such as Whitby, £2 million would be an extremely large loss.

Fishing and Whitby go together. We want to plan for a positive future and for diversification. I commend the recent arrangements that have benefited my constituents who are involved in agriculture, and I would like to see the serious question that faces many others of my constituents given a high national profile.

10.32 am

Mr. Lawrie Quinn (Scarborough and Whitby): It is with great personal pleasure that I contribute to the debate. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley, Central (Mr. Illsley) on his success in securing this timely debate, and for the excellent way in which he linked wider regional matters to the publication last week of the 10-year transport plan.

With your permission, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I shall focus on my part of the region--north Yorkshire, and especially the north Yorkshire coast. I shall speak about the challenges and opportunities that face the communities of Whitby and Scarborough, and my belief that the economic regeneration of that part of Yorkshire rests totally on the continuing success of the policies that have been introduced by the Labour Government, with specific emphasis on the transport policies--an excellent route map--laid before Parliament last week by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister.

Before I continue, it would be remiss of me not to place on record my entry in the Register of Members' Interests. I hope that my past professional interest in transport management and construction will be regarded as a strong basis for the arguments that I shall attempt to deploy this morning. Working as a civil engineer, particularly in the region's railway industry, managing, developing and improving the country's civil engineering infrastructure over 18 sometimes very long years gave me the opportunity to view transportation from the coal face. Transport policy over those 18 years resulted in a legacy of failure. I estimate that two thirds of my design work for the much-needed renewal, enhancement and maintenance of railway structures now lies in a dusty drawer in the planning room among Railtrack's regional archives.

That personal overview spurred me into action, my personal agenda being to gain election to Parliament. Fundamentally, I am an engineer. I try to solve problems; I do not want to be part of the problem. From that basic philosophy, I regard my right hon. Friend Deputy Prime Minister's work over the past three years as being at the heart of transport and economic regeneration, not only for my region but for the communities there.

Scarborough and Whitby have seen the start of the delivery of much-needed assistance. European objective 2 status has been granted for 95 per cent. of the community, and last week the matched funding for that initiative was announced. We have also seen the Government's acceptance of Scarborough's £17 million integrated transport scheme. I thank my hon. Friend the Minister for his personal interest in bringing forward that initiative. I commend him for his personal expertise; the many years that he spent working in transportation have undoubtedly added to his reputation as a Minister who solves problems rather than makes them.

I was a member of the Committee that considered the Transport Bill, and I and my hon. Friends amended the Bill to include a much-needed national transport concessionary scheme for pensioners. My constituency, which did not have such a scheme, benefits from that initiative. Again, I commend my hon. Friend the Minister and his team for listening to and acting upon the representations made by the people who live on the north Yorkshire coast.

I turn to the reason why I wanted to make a contribution to this debate. For far too long, and under Governments of both parties, the transport lifeline into Scarborough and Whitby, the A64 trunk road corridor, has been the first road investment scheme to be chopped whenever the nation's finances looked bleak. That was certainly the case in 1995, when the long-awaited proposals were again kicked into the long grass. I should be staggered if any of the hon. Members here who have made the journey along the A64 did not appreciate how strange it was to cut that scheme, as they, too, will have sat in traffic jams for many hours when heading to the coast. Scarborough and Whitby offer visitors a warm welcome, but those trying to get there sometimes need a lot of patience.

The previous Governments' short-term transport policies, which were linked to their failed economic policies of boom and bust, were wrong in 1995. The failure to redress the mistake in the light of the forward-looking agenda of the new Government's transport policies for a new century would condemn my community to economic starvation and a bleak future. We could become the south Yorkshire at the northern end of our region unless action is taken. We are here to help prepare for success and not for the isolation and failure that would be induced by more than a million traffic jams and a million frustrated vehicle journeys into the constituency.

Last week's foresighted statement concerning the nation's trunk roads as part of the 10-year plan gives the people of Whitby and Scarborough hope such as they have not experienced for more than a generation. The prospect of a multi-modal study of the A64 corridor was also the focus of representations to my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, who was able to visit my constituency last week. He had discussions with the senior management of McCains Foods, a word-class food manufacturer based in Eastfield in my constituency. Hon. Members will be familiar with the firm's products if they choose French fries in the restaurants of the House. The company is considering future investment plans. The Minister of Agriculture was given a clear message in no uncertain terms, from that important manufacturer with which to return to Government. Future investment for McCains will depend totally on the logistics and the future of the A64 corridor. The firm speaks up for the industrial businesses in Scarborough and Whitby. I expect next week, when the Minister for Tourism, Film and Broadcasting, my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Janet Anderson) visits my constituency, that the hard-pressed tourism sector will strongly reinforce that message.

The multi-modal studies will allow a real investigation into the most serious problems on the region's trunk road network, including the lifeline into my constituency. We will be able to focus on the issues that were not addressed in the targeted programme of improvements laid out in the 10-year plan. The studies will allow an examination of the role of every type of transport. As my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley, Central suggested, we need a total integrated solution in my community and our region generally. We need to make the best use of the resources and the facilities that we have now and to place investment where it will have most impact.

I commend the work done for many years by North Yorkshire county council and by Scarborough borough council, which have dusted off previous arguments deployed to earlier transport Ministers regarding the future of the A64 corridor and which have allowed me to present some perspective on what is happening at the moment.

The A64 is the only trunk road to serve the Scarborough and Whitby area. As such, its strategic importance cannot be over-emphasised. That has been recognised by the Department, with proposals for a dual carriageway between Malton and Staxton on the outskirts of my constituency. The A64 links the important regional centre of Leeds with the A1, Tadcaster, York, Malton and Seamer. It is especially important because it provides an access route to the North Yorkshire moors national park, about 60 per cent. of which is in my constituency, the Yorkshire wolds and all the east coast resorts. The road is an important lifeline and its national status has been recognised by its being retained as a core trunk route.

Economic regeneration for my community and the nearby coastal areas has been confirmed at European level following designation as a rural priority area and an objective 2 area for European Union structural funds. Nationally, the Government have given support to the town and urban areas of Scarborough with two single regeneration budget programmes. In May 2000, the employment rate for my constituency was more than double that of the rest of the county of north Yorkshire. Everyone recognises that Scarborough and Whitby are wonderful places to go on holiday. They are prime tourist destinations, the birthplace of the British seaside industry, and of national importance, especially when one considers the beauty and historical context of Whitby. There were almost 11 million visitor days in 1999, but the area's potential is not fully met. We can offer the sort of quality experience that people are seeking in their recreation time.

The challenges to tourism in the area hang on the fact that people have moved away from the long-stay holiday to the short break. Weekend breaks and additional holidays, which sometimes involve shorter journey times, are influenced by the quality of communication links. Therefore, the poor quality of the links to my constituency is fundamental to the future of tourism in Scarborough and Whitby. Virtually every other major seaside resort and conference centre already has a high-quality dualled connection to motorway networks, and that has an impact on the potential economic development of any area around our coastline.

Linked to the partnership that we have forged in our region for economic development, in particular with Yorkshire Forward, I ask the Minister to consider other aspects of the review for which I am calling. The county council, in partnership with Scarborough borough council, the Highways Agency, Railtrack and English, Welsh, Scottish Railway are investigating ways of encouraging the use of the passenger-only lines from York to Scarborough for the movement of freight. The railway part of the A64 corridor is not currently being used for freight, but its potential is tremendous, especially because of the major industrial companies that are located in Scarborough, such as Pinder Printers. That company is well known to the Minister and is a world leader in transport and travel information systems. In addition, Plaxtons, the bus manufacturers, provide about 45 per cent. of buses for the national and international market. Those companies, which are major players in the local economy, are totally reliant on good logistical links into Scarborough.

The partnership that has been forged with Yorkshire Forward, the possibility of an inter-modal study and investment in the corridor are fundamental to the future of my community. Following the Government's welcome strategy for coastal shipping, there is tremendous potential for Whitby, a coastal port, to fulfil its part in the maritime economics of the country. However, Whitby is restricted by the fact that there are inadequate transportation links into the port. I remind the Minister of the much-heralded proposal to reconnect the railway line from the trans-Pennine corridor--from Malton, up through Pickering--to the current line of the North Yorkshire Moors railway. An estimated cost of £19 million has been forwarded for the consideration of the Strategic Rail Authority. It is essential for Whitby's future that that sum should be provided for a link, not only for recreation but to revitalise the area.

I want to comment briefly on the region's airport strategy. Most people who leave Scarborough and Whitby for international flights would tend to take the trans-Pennine railway route directly to Manchester airport. We desperately need an important integrated link into Leeds-Bradford as soon as possible. That is fundamental to the prosperity of the region and essential to the future of my community. Our area of north Yorkshire is looking to the world. We want to play our part, and transport links are fundamental to that.

Mr. Lawrie Quinn (Scarborough and Whitby): My right hon. Friend is a frequent visitor to my part of North Yorkshire, and he knows that the legacy of the Conservative party has left transport policy in a total mess. Will he explain to the House how the multi-modal studies on the A64 corridor relate to the regional dimension, and how we can ensure that the regions deliver this policy?

Mr. Prescott: Multi-modal studies take into account the criteria set out in the road programme, such as the economic requirement, environmental considerations, safety and relieving congestion. Safety is a major consideration, especially with regard to the A64. Provided that multi-modal projects meet those criteria and fit into the regional assessment, they will be built and will be given priority. Although road building may be the solution to some congestion problems using a multi-modal approach, some problems may be solved by public transport, and we want to provide both.

Mr. Lawrie Quinn (Scarborough and Whitby): Does my hon. Friend agree with me that one of the problems was the fact that the previous Government split up the rail freight industry into three component parts? It was only as a result of a private entrepreneur sticking Humpty Dumpty back together again that the renaissance that the hon. Member for North Essex (Mr. Jenkin) applauded came about.

Mr. Raynsford: I am happy to confirm to my hon. Friend that in the past two years there have at long last been significant increases in rail freight. I shall deal with that matter later in my speech.

...

Mr. Quinn: Does my hon. Friend share my real concern about the upgrade of the west coast main line, because Railtrack, its contractors and project managers are now having to recruit technical expertise from the Indian sub-continent? Is not that a symbol of what has happened to our railway industry's manufacturing base? Expertise has been lost and we have not replaced it with future investment.

Mrs. Dunwoody: It is a marvellous irony that we, who built most of the Indian railways and supplied the engineers and expertise, are now - 100 or 150 years later - having to go back and ask for assistance. I am glad that the Indian railway system is capable. When I look at some of our trains, I wonder whether we will end up riding on their roofs, as people in India do; I hope not.

Some rail companies, worried about their franchise, come forward with the most wonderful plans and wish lists. Others, such as Railtrack, do not appear to deal with immediate or short-term problems but only say that they hope that things might be different in 20 years' time. That is not acceptable and it will not do.

...

Mr. Quinn: May I advise my hon. Friend that about 65 per cent. of all the design work with which I was personally involved in 18 years of working in the railway industry remains in some dusty drawer? I do not think that that is a reflection on my abilities as a designer, but it supports his point.

Mr. Snape: I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I hope that those of us with practical experience of these matters can occasionally put politics aside and say that we have to start from where we are today if we are determined to have a better railway industry. There is no point harking back to the glory days--either pre-grouping, since nationalisation or beyond.
Of course the Tories got it wrong in the mid-1990s because they were in such a hurry, but other countries that are privatising have learned from our mistakes.

Mr. Lawrie Quinn (Scarborough and Whitby): In 1998, professionals in the construction industry who worked in overseas markets contributed £2.3 billion to the British economy in invisible earnings, which equates to 20 per cent. of the total. Is that not a sign that we are world leaders and world class, and that we should continue to market that throughout the world?

Mr. Chidgey : I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making the important point that 20 per cent. of our invisible earnings come from the professional and technical skills of the construction industry. However, two decades ago the proportion was 40 per cent. or more. The industry vied strongly with the financial institutions, which are always quoted as the main source of invisibles. Yes, we are still major players, but we will not be in any shape to continue along those lines unless we look to the future and address the problems.

The high-value overseas markets for our construction industry, in terms of construction management and engineering skills, are no longer in the world as we used to know it, but in North America and Europe.

...

Mr. Lawrie Quinn (Scarborough and Whitby): Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the main problems with the construction industry is its mobile nature, and the fact that it is not easy to employ safety representatives on sites? Does he agree that the construction trade unions should be considering some type of roving safety rep scheme to bring about the change of culture that is needed on construction sites?

Mr. Miller : I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I recognise his experience in this sphere. That approach ought to be considered as it may provide a solution.

I refer my hon. Friend to my earlier remarks about subcontracting, which exacerbates the problem. I am not sure where the right model lies. It is possible that parts of the country where there is greater activity might provide different solutions, but something along the lines that my hon. Friend suggests needs to be considered.

...

5.06 p.m.

Mr. Lawrie Quinn (Scarborough and Whitby): Before I begin, it would be appropriate for me to draw everyone's attention to my interests listed in the Register of Members' Interests. I am proud to be a chartered civil engineer. I worked in the railway industry for 20 years and I am glad to say that, should I ever need to find alternative employment, my former employer, Railtrack, has offered me first refusal if I want to return to that career, so I have duly listed it. That neatly brings me on to one of the recurring themes of today's debate--the future of the construction industry and a desperate skills shortage.

Recently, the industry's widely read magazine New Civil Engineer reported the lamentable fact that we are now having to recruit engineers from the Indian sub-continent to deliver the prestigious west coast mainline infrastructure project. That is the thin end of the wedge. I join the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet (Sir S. Chapman), who displays a considerable knowledge of the construction industry, in urging the Government to look closely at the crisis point at which we are arriving. We need to focus on these skill shortages; we need classic, joined-up government across all Government Departments to look at construction professionals for the future; and we need to provide people with an opportunity to become flourishing engineers and construction professionals, so that they can contribute to the overseas earnings delivered by construction--20 per cent. of invisibles, as was mentioned earlier. It is an important part of the British economy that we cannot afford to lose.

In the limited time that I have I want to refer to an important conference that will take place in Birmingham next week. I congratulate the Minister on facilitating this debate, because I know from visiting the millennium dome, which is a good example of British engineering and innovation, that an important event is taking place in his community today. When I met the person who is now the mayor of Greenwich borough, I gave her an alibi for the Minister-not that he needed one. I told her that he was involved in an important debate in the House and that I was hoping to catch Madam Speaker's eye. She understood, and I am sure that she would want me to pass on her best wishes. The Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister have supported the Movement for Innovation initiative throughout. Next week, it is holding an important national conference entitled, "Rethinking construction-profiting through innovation".

The considerable time that I have spent in the construction industry has taught me that construction involves teams and partnership and it requires people to work together. It is appropriate that we had our debate in this Chamber--we all want to focus on the future of this vital industry, and there has been a consensus throughout.

Some hon. Members who spoke earlier may not have passed on due credit to the many learned organisations that work in construction, including the Institution of Civil Engineers, to which I belong, and the Institution of Structural Engineers. The chartered surveyors organisations have done much important work. All such groups have been batting for Britain-they helped to ensure that the world's engineering opportunities have been met by British engineers and, recently, they have helped to develop the skills of engineers abroad, especially those in the developing world. I commend all those engineering institutions, which have worked closely with and offered learned expertise to the Republic of China. We need to focus on world markets and the skills of engineers. I hope that under this Labour Government, engineering and construction will move from its current high point to even better times.

Mr. Raynsford : We have had an absolutely excellent debate. My opening speech was followed by those of 12 hon. Members, and if my concluding remarks are added, there will have been 14 speeches in all. Our debate ranged over many subjects, all of which are of considerable importance and relevance to construction.

Our debate was characterised by the expertise of the hon. Members who have spoken--we have had an incredibly well informed debate--and by the many different perspectives that have been represented. We have benefited from, for example, the professional and technical expertise of my hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Mr. Quinn) and from the business expertise of the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien).

c. 7:50 pm

Mr. Lawrie Quinn (Scarborough and Whitby): Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Mr. Foster: Time is short, but I will allow the hon. Gentleman to intervene briefly.

Mr. Quinn: Thank you. I have listened carefully, and not once has anyone from your Benches mentioned--

Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Alan Haselhurst): Order. If the hon. Gentleman wishes to intervene, his phraseology must be right.

Mr. Quinn: I am sorry. Let me say this through the Chair. I want to raise the issue of freight vis-à-vis congestion problems. What are your party's proposals in regard to the decisions that have been made?

Mr. Foster: I am sure that the hon. Gentleman was, in fact, addressing his question about freight through you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Let me therefore tell you that Liberal Democrats recognise the importance of moving as much freight as possible to the railway, while also recognising that it is an impossible dream to expect all freight to travel by that means. We must consider imaginative measures, such as the use of interchanges outside cities to enable larger lorries to employ our motorways and the main routes leading to the outskirts, and the use of smaller vehicles for the purpose of that distribution. ...

c. 8:45 pm

Mr. Lawrie Quinn (Scarborough and Whitby): Will my hon. Friend give way?

Mr. Stevenson: I am trying to calculate how much longer I have left to speak; I think that I can give way.

Mr. Quinn: I am most grateful to my hon. Friend. Is he aware of the statement by Railtrack, which welcomed the establishment of a Strategic Rail Authority? Railtrack is geared to working closely with the SRA and it looks forward to the authority gaining its full powers. It states:

"The strategic overview which the SRA will provide will be helpful and we welcome the clarification of"--

Mr. Stevenson: My hon. Friend simply endorses the point that I made earlier. ...

Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO