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Construction products association Industry Principal's Council Lunch

The Rt. Hon. Stephen Timms MP,  Former Minister of State for Competitiveness
Hanson PLC,  12 September 2007

I am delighted to be with you here today to say a few words about the focus of the new Department – Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) - and to listen to what you want to say to me.

The department has a very clear remit from the Prime Minister, and that is to be a strong voice for business at the heart of Government, to act as the Voice for Business right across Whitehall. We have a clear focus on promoting productivity, enterprise, competition and trade, and I think it is particularly helpful for our pro-business brief that the cross-Government regulatory reform regulatory unit now sits in our department.

We lead in Whitehall on the crucial cross-Government targets of productivity, business success and regional economic performance.

We have new levers of influence through the new Business Council for Britain, for which our department provides the Secretariat, as well as through the Better Regulation Executive.

To act as the voice for business, we will need to engage more effectively with businesses to identify the key issues that matter. I hope we can build a stronger empathy for business in Government, and develop a deeper awareness and knowledge in Government departments of the challenges you face in the UK and overseas.

BERR will need this if it is to prove an effective Voice for Business. It will also need to develop strong long-term relationships with key Government Departments: my old department, the Treasury, where I have had three separate stints, most recently as Chief Secretary; Communities and Local Government; and the new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS).

When there are proposals which may have an adverse effect on business, we will argue industry’s case. We won’t always succeed, but we will give it our best shot.

My Treasury experience has given me a very clear sense of the vital importance of construction to the UK economy, as well as being central to tackling the great contemporary challenge of sustainability.

Construction accounts for over 8% of UK GDP, employs over 2 million people and comprises some 275,000 firms. Construction products account for some 40% of construction output, and almost 20% of all UK industrial output, contributing almost 4% of UK GDP. You employ some 650,000 people within 30,000 companies. You play a vital role in a key industry crucial to our economic performance and our quality of life.

Over a third of the output of the industry is for the public sector. This means that on many issues – improved procurement practices, better regulation, skills, sustainability – Government and the public sector can make a powerful difference. Non homogeneity in the public sector means this is not straightforward.

If anything, the figures I have quoted understate the importance of construction in the modern world. There is evidence from the National Audit Office (NAO), the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) and from the former Department for Education and Science that how schools and hospitals are designed and built affects educational and healthcare outcomes. So the construction industry plays a key part in determining the degree of success in the Government’s key mission – the mast to which we have nailed our colours – of improving public services.

The construction industry also has a vital contribution to make to the challenge of global warming: zero carbon housing; the provision of affordable homes. These are challenges for us all, and for the construction products industry in particular.

One of BERR’s first publications, in collaboration with Communities & Local Government (CLG) and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), was the Consultation Document on Sustainable Construction.

Over the consultation period we are actively engaging with all stakeholders to improve the evidence base, refine the targets, and to share priorities for action.

A key part of the Strategy will be the development of an implementation plan setting out the specific actions, to which we seek the commitment of a wide variety of organisations.

Do you look at the consultation paper, consider the targets and look at how priorities can be implemented within your business, demonstrating your leadership in supporting the achievement of these targets.

My portfolio in BERR is a broad one. The construction press has commented that, like me predecessors, I seem to have a lot to do apart from construction. Actually, there are close links between my work on construction and on – for example – small business, which is also in my portfolio. The assurance I can give is, to quote the Prime Minister “I too will try my utmost”.

One other assurance I can give you is that I will listen to what you say and I certainly look forward to hearing your views today.

Thank you.