Businesses and the Regions

I will not detain the House for long, but I wish to make a few concluding points. I thank all hon. Members for taking part in the debate on what we all agree is an important issue. It is the second time in two weeks that the House has discussed it and I agree with the hon. Member for Broxbourne (Mr. Walker) about its importance. The hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr. Prisk) spoke about small businesses and public sector procurement. It is not the case that businesses need to show three years of full accounts to bid for public sector contracts. How to enable more small businesses to bid for those contracts is a legitimate issue to consider, and the Glover review, which we commissioned to look into that, should report next month. The House will have noted the evasive responses of the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford when asked three times whether his party would keep or close the regional development agency offices overseas. Perhaps I can enlighten him with a quote from the hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Alan Duncan) who said:"““We will end the practice of agencies establishing overseas offices.””" If the hon. Gentleman was unenlightened about his party leader's position on RDAs, he is now enlightened about the position on overseas offices. My hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Mr. Kidney) quite rightly praised good companies such as JCB which do an excellent job in this country and abroad. He also raised important issues to do with cash flow and credit—matters of significant concern for businesses at the moment.