To ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps he is taking to encourage trade associations to provide an effective voice in representing the needs of business to Government.
I want trade associations to be effective organizations—in representing the views of members to Government Departments, the European Commission and other bodies, in promoting the international competitiveness of their member companies and in providing a strong point of focus for their industry. The principal responsibility for ensuring that this is the case falls on the companies that are their members.But the CBI also has a role to play. And so do the Government. We must be open in our discussions with companies and industrialists about our perceptions of the effectiveness of the organisations which represent them.In light of this, I am considering adopting a new approach to representations from trade associations to my Department. Where a lead association has emerged in a sector and the subject of proposls was relevant to the sector as a whole, I would ask the lead association to co-ordinate representations received from other associations in that sector before submitting them to me.To support the efforts of the trade associations to promote the competitiveness of their sectors, I am inviting them to submit proposals for "competitiveness clubs" to carry out benchmarking studies of processes important to their sectors. I propose allocating up to £0·5 million to support the 10 or so most attractive schemes.I will be setting out my views in a speech which I am delivering at the CBI today. I am placing copies of my speech in the House of Commons Library.