:00:03. > :00:06.Tonight, we're going to lift the lid on the hopes and fears for the
:00:06. > :00:07.South's economy. Inflation may be falling but unemployment is rising
:00:07. > :00:09.falling but unemployment is rising falling but unemployment is rising
:00:09. > :00:17.and people are being squeezed, so how can this region, often the UK's
:00:17. > :00:27.powerhouse, lift itself into recovery? That is what we are here
:00:27. > :00:47.
:00:47. > :00:52.to discuss tonight. Our economy, I'm Sally Taylor and welcome to the
:00:52. > :00:58.UK headquarters of Linde. The company here sells forklift trucks
:00:58. > :01:03.and there has been a unit here since 1949. More than 200 people
:01:03. > :01:08.work here. Tonight I am joined by people from all walks of life and
:01:08. > :01:11.we will begin by hearing from Ellie Hallmark, a mother of four. She has
:01:11. > :01:21.regularly missed meals when there is not enough money to feed the
:01:21. > :01:28.whole family. There just wasn't enough money to go round to buy the
:01:28. > :01:38.food to feed us, so something has to give. My oldest daughter said,
:01:38. > :01:42.Mum, I'm with you on this. We went without food. We just did not eat.
:01:42. > :01:46.Everything was going up in price, but your wages do not go up. My
:01:46. > :01:49.rent from the 2nd April will go up 7.1 per cent, so in effect it is
:01:49. > :01:59.another �40 a month they are expecting me to find, from where I
:01:59. > :02:01.
:02:01. > :02:04.don't know. I'm not on minimum wage, far from it. I am willing to work
:02:05. > :02:08.every hour there is but the more I learn, the more they take and I'm
:02:08. > :02:15.sure of there's loads of other people like me out there and the
:02:15. > :02:19.Government are just ignoring it, just ignoring it.
:02:19. > :02:26.That is Ellie's story. Sadly Ellie cannot be with us tonight but it is
:02:26. > :02:31.a typical story of some people and I will talk to Hayley. You are a
:02:31. > :02:37.public sector worker. Most public sector workers have had their pay
:02:37. > :02:40.frozen, you have had yours cut. How has it affected you? I'm basically
:02:40. > :02:50.�250-�300 worse off because they have imposed a pay cut in order to
:02:50. > :02:54.save jobs. We have not seen the jobs that have been saved but I
:02:54. > :03:02.find it difficult. Every month I have to plan what I spend my money
:03:02. > :03:05.on. What have you given up? I have to buy own-brand food now, I can't
:03:05. > :03:15.not afford, my nutrition has probably suffered, I cannot buy as
:03:15. > :03:15.
:03:15. > :03:21.much fruit and veg as I would like to. Do you ask yourself, is it
:03:21. > :03:25.worth me having this job or would I be better off on benefits? For me I
:03:25. > :03:29.do not think it is an option. The reason I went into public service
:03:29. > :03:32.work was I wanted to make a difference. Although it is
:03:32. > :03:35.extremely difficult, I deal with people every day who are in worse
:03:35. > :03:45.scenarios than I am, people who are living in poverty while in their
:03:45. > :03:46.
:03:46. > :03:50.sixties or seventies and eighties. Do you blame anyone? The Government
:03:50. > :03:54.is likely to blame. A lot of these cuts have come and they will hit
:03:54. > :03:57.women, especially women with children. We are expected to
:03:57. > :04:04.continue to work but the attacks on child tax credit, working tax
:04:04. > :04:11.credit, I do not see how we will get out of it. Penny, your party is
:04:11. > :04:18.always saying we are always in this together. You heard this story of
:04:18. > :04:24.Ellie and Hayley. They are not untypical. They will not think they
:04:24. > :04:33.are in it with you. This is very common but I do encounter a lot of
:04:33. > :04:36.people who are in... What do you say? We have managed to do quite a
:04:36. > :04:42.lot and before we came in, someone in Ellie's position, there was no
:04:42. > :04:45.incentive for them to work. If they tried to increase their salary,
:04:45. > :04:52.they were taxed 98 per cent because of the benefits that were taken
:04:52. > :04:59.away from them as their earnings went up. What we did was change
:04:59. > :05:04.that. Should it have got to this stage where somebody decides it is
:05:04. > :05:07.heating or eating? It should not. It is very difficult, I do not know
:05:07. > :05:13.Ellie's whole situation but what we need to do is keep raising tax
:05:13. > :05:20.thresholds. We have done that, we have lifted 1.1 million people out
:05:20. > :05:23.of paying tax altogether, we have increased child tax credits.
:05:23. > :05:33.could list these things but there are still people who are in these
:05:33. > :05:40.pockets of poverty that we have. Daisy, Lib-Dem councillor. You are
:05:40. > :05:43.in coalition here. It is partly for you to be blamed as well, is it?
:05:43. > :05:53.can really relate to what Ellie was saying because in my ward, children
:05:53. > :05:57.in poverty is an expanding number. You are in a position where you
:05:57. > :06:01.were having to get rid of hundreds of jobs. We had tough choices to
:06:02. > :06:04.make. I was in charge of adult social care and we had to look at a
:06:05. > :06:11.situation where the council had to subsidise people who paid for that
:06:11. > :06:15.care and I had to prioritise those who could not afford to pay. This
:06:15. > :06:24.is an acute situation and I want to see an increase in the raising of
:06:24. > :06:27.tax threshold. George, Labour peer. I am looking at a change to the
:06:27. > :06:30.working tax credit situations coming in April, so that if you are
:06:30. > :06:40.working like Ellie or Hayley, but if you are earning less than
:06:40. > :06:42.
:06:42. > :06:49.�17,500 you will be worse off as a result of those tax credit changes.
:06:49. > :06:52.What is the solution? Some say you got us into this mess. We've raised
:06:52. > :07:00.the issue of the working tax credit problem a month ago and we said how
:07:00. > :07:03.we would pay for it by getting rid of the stamp duty loophole. I am
:07:03. > :07:06.pleased to see on the BBC today George Osborne closing that
:07:07. > :07:16.loophole but he did not say he would make work pay for those
:07:17. > :07:17.
:07:17. > :07:23.people on working tax credit. Andrew, you are a graduate. You
:07:23. > :07:33.spent a long time trying to get a job. You now have a job. Can you
:07:33. > :07:35.
:07:35. > :07:38.tell me what that process was like? It was humiliating to say the least.
:07:38. > :07:41.Seeking employment is hard enough at the moment but the very people
:07:41. > :07:44.you come into contact with who are supposed to ease that process can
:07:44. > :07:52.be quite judgmental and I am not saying the JobCentre is all
:07:52. > :07:55.judgemental. There were some very nice people who were very helpful
:07:55. > :08:03.but the process itself, that process they are working in is
:08:03. > :08:08.repressive. How did it affect you? You are well qualified and there is
:08:09. > :08:12.nothing. I'd got a good degree, I worked hard throughout university,
:08:12. > :08:22.I got as much experience as I could and you would assume that
:08:22. > :08:23.
:08:23. > :08:29.employment would come with that naturally, but it did not. Aston,
:08:29. > :08:35.you are from the Isle of Wight. You are what a recall a NEETs, not in
:08:35. > :08:41.education, employment or training. Now you are an apprentice. Isle of
:08:41. > :08:46.Wight, so many people chasing so few jobs, what was it like? It was
:08:46. > :08:49.frustrating. You cannot find anything and if you do, it is
:08:49. > :08:56.either working in a residential working in a residential home but I
:08:56. > :09:04.cannot bring myself to do that. I don't have that kind of caring
:09:04. > :09:08.instinct, and seasonal work as well. Then after that, you go back on the
:09:08. > :09:14.dole for the winter months. Is it difficult to motivate yourself when
:09:14. > :09:17.you get rejections? All the time. But I went on a course and that
:09:17. > :09:20.ignited the spark of organisation and motivation in myself and with
:09:20. > :09:23.these apprenticeship courses, I reckon that is a very good idea for
:09:23. > :09:33.the government to be bringing up because it is very valuable and the
:09:33. > :09:34.
:09:34. > :09:42.variety is amazing. You are on an apprenticeship scheme now. What
:09:42. > :09:46.about friends of yours? What is the future looking like for them?
:09:46. > :09:54.There is not a lot there. Most of my friends are going off the island
:09:54. > :09:59.now and it is awful. My friends are all having to go off and go to
:09:59. > :10:04.other places. Some cannot seem to bring themselves to do anything.
:10:04. > :10:11.Motivation has gone. You are sitting next to Michael from the
:10:11. > :10:16.Institute of Personnel Development. You help people in recruitment.
:10:16. > :10:20.What you are hearing from Aston, Andrew, is this typical?
:10:20. > :10:22.certainly is typical. What we are doing, what we are producing out of
:10:22. > :10:26.schools, out of university are individuals who are not necessarily
:10:26. > :10:29.well prepared for the world of work, do not have the skills that we need,
:10:30. > :10:35.so we need to find some way of bridging that from taking them from
:10:35. > :10:42.education into work. Through apprenticeships, vocational
:10:42. > :10:46.training that is the bridge you need. It is not a political point,
:10:46. > :10:51.it is a point that we need to make sure that the young people today
:10:51. > :10:54.are given these opportunities in order they make that transition.
:10:55. > :10:57.it the case that you hear people, I have applied for hundreds of jobs,
:10:58. > :11:06.is it that they are getting something wrong or is it simply
:11:06. > :11:08.that it is that tough? It is tough. There is a tsunami of CVs out there
:11:09. > :11:16.but if you ask employers, actually recruiting skilled, qualified
:11:16. > :11:19.candidates is still remarkably difficult. There is a mismatch
:11:19. > :11:24.between the skills and education people have got and the
:11:24. > :11:28.opportunities. Where are the opportunities, the sectors where
:11:28. > :11:30.there are jobs? Financial services, even manufacturing and construction,
:11:31. > :11:34.IT, professional services - all these have got opportunities but
:11:34. > :11:42.when we look at opportunities, all too often the people applying for
:11:42. > :11:47.them do not have the prequisite skills. Linda, you run an IT
:11:47. > :11:51.company. You are nodding, yes there are jobs out there. You started up
:11:51. > :11:58.your company and would you say that to other people, go and do it
:11:58. > :12:01.yourself? There is a need for some kind of bridging. There is a gap
:12:01. > :12:04.because we have been hiring and the quality that we get, sometimes I
:12:04. > :12:14.wonder how frustrated people really are in this sector, how much that
:12:14. > :12:14.
:12:15. > :12:18.plays a part. You employ a small number of people. That is right. We
:12:18. > :12:26.have ended up having less staff because we have not been able to
:12:26. > :12:29.fulfil the roles. I run, one of my businesses is a web internet
:12:29. > :12:39.retailer and we try and get people to load product, write web sites
:12:39. > :12:40.
:12:40. > :12:43.and sometimes we cannot get anyone. Are they not trained? We put
:12:43. > :12:50.adverts out and we are looking for basic requirements and we are
:12:51. > :13:00.saying, where are these one million 16-24 year olds on these jobs? The
:13:01. > :13:03.
:13:03. > :13:07.other side is I put ads out and then I have 80 people. We need to
:13:07. > :13:12.skill the young people up and equip them for the jobs for the future
:13:12. > :13:15.which may not be retail, it may be in internet companies. It is making
:13:15. > :13:23.sure because we have the young people, if they do not have skills,
:13:23. > :13:27.they do not have the jobs. You run a company, how many do you employ?
:13:27. > :13:32.We employ five people. We have grown 500 per cent, which is
:13:32. > :13:35.fantastic and we want to grow more. There's plenty of applications and
:13:35. > :13:43.we are not looking for certain skills, just people with the right
:13:43. > :13:46.attitude and there were people like that with in the debate here. There
:13:46. > :13:50.are lots of companies that are just looking for people that have the
:13:50. > :13:55.right attitude, want to get involved and are passionate.
:13:55. > :13:59.Unfortunately, SMEs are not as attractive as the big guys. SMEs,
:13:59. > :14:05.small, medium enterprises. Just finding that information is like a
:14:05. > :14:14.lost box. I felt like I was in the right place at the right time with
:14:14. > :14:17.the right people trying to help me. Penny, as a Conservative MP, why
:14:17. > :14:27.are you not listening to young people more instead of just saying
:14:27. > :14:27.
:14:27. > :14:30.this is what we are going to do. What we are going to do is change
:14:30. > :14:33.in part the advice that people are being given because the theme
:14:33. > :14:43.running through this is that the job hunter is given very poor
:14:43. > :14:46.advice. One of the most depressing things I see is someone shows me a
:14:46. > :14:50.file full of 200 certificates they have got from being put on one
:14:50. > :14:52.course or another. No one has given them good, one to one advice about
:14:52. > :14:56.the skills they have, their ambitions and what is happening in
:14:56. > :14:58.the workplace where they live. The welfare-to-work programme is about
:14:58. > :15:08.giving people that one-to-one advice, including people who have
:15:08. > :15:14.
:15:14. > :15:20.been out of work for a long time. That is a very welcome change.
:15:20. > :15:30.have this business that basically has hit hard times because of the
:15:30. > :15:34.
:15:34. > :15:42.cuts in subsidy. How many people did you start with. Now we have 35.
:15:42. > :15:52.That is because of the subsidies. It grew very fast because the
:15:52. > :15:53.
:15:53. > :15:57.subsidies were too generous. What is that like having to get rid of
:15:57. > :16:06.people? That is very difficult especially in a climate when there
:16:06. > :16:14.is not a lot fold them to go out to. It is a different kettle of fish
:16:14. > :16:24.for you, Nick. You make these stair lifts. You have just given workers
:16:24. > :16:25.
:16:25. > :16:31.recently a 2% pay rise. You might be saying, what downturn? For us,
:16:31. > :16:37.we are growing. We are exporting. Most of our sales are export sales
:16:37. > :16:43.instead of market. We export all around the world and we know that
:16:43. > :16:51.there is inflation and so we need to keep hold of our staff. What are
:16:51. > :17:00.you doing right? For asked the sector we are in, it is a growing
:17:00. > :17:03.market. That helps us a lot. Innovation is really important,
:17:03. > :17:09.research and development, getting your product right, finding your
:17:10. > :17:13.markets around the world is really critical. All of that comes from
:17:13. > :17:20.having great people working for you and that is what is really
:17:20. > :17:23.important. Listening to Aston, apprenticeships are really key. We
:17:23. > :17:29.have apprenticeship schemes and that is really important in terms
:17:29. > :17:33.of training. We will come on to that but I want you to meet another
:17:33. > :17:38.businessman. Rick runs a coffee shop. He started it with his own
:17:38. > :17:42.money because he could not get a loan from the bank. It is such a
:17:42. > :17:52.success that he has now opened a second one. This time he has not
:17:52. > :17:55.
:17:55. > :18:00.We submitted our business plan to our new bank manager and our
:18:00. > :18:04.business plan was passed around between three different branches
:18:04. > :18:10.and on our opening day, as it became closer, we had no money so
:18:10. > :18:20.in the end we had to take out personal loans. Week Max doubt our
:18:20. > :18:20.
:18:20. > :18:26.credit cards. It was really risky. Our business survival was at stake
:18:26. > :18:35.and we felt really let down. To be honest, the large high street banks
:18:35. > :18:42.do not really have a lot of interest. We were looking for
:18:42. > :18:50.�40,000 and once our application went live on the internet, five or
:18:50. > :18:55.six hours later, we had 40 grand. First of all, congratulations, but
:18:55. > :18:59.what is your relationship like with the bank now? First, Aiko own the
:18:59. > :19:05.coffee shop with my business partner and we took out loans
:19:05. > :19:09.together. Our relationship with the bank is pretty good. But we do not
:19:09. > :19:15.do a lot that involves the bank apart from taking our money there
:19:15. > :19:23.on a weekly basis. Was it frustrating not getting a loan?
:19:23. > :19:28.It was not so much frustrating, I could have accepted that because
:19:28. > :19:32.they start a business can be high risk in an economic downturn, but
:19:32. > :19:40.it was the way we were treated by the bank. What was that experience
:19:40. > :19:44.like this? There was not a lot of input into our application. There
:19:44. > :19:51.was not a lot of feedback in terms of what we would need to improve
:19:51. > :19:58.our chances. Our application was passed around to different bank
:19:58. > :20:03.managers because ours was on holiday. We could not track down
:20:03. > :20:07.who had our application. There was a lot of confusion and you were not
:20:07. > :20:11.focusing on one person. He went to something that is called peer-to-
:20:11. > :20:21.peer funding. In a nutshell, very simply explain what that is. Peer-
:20:21. > :20:25.to-peer funding is essentially Internet-based business which
:20:25. > :20:31.matches buyers with lenders. If someone wants to lend money, they
:20:31. > :20:39.can get a higher interest rate by going through the bank's and
:20:39. > :20:43.borrowers can get a lower interest rate. Linda, it is possibly
:20:44. > :20:50.something that you could think of here. You want to expand. Would you
:20:50. > :20:56.go down that road of peer-to-peer funding? The idea is great. It is a
:20:56. > :21:02.growing concept, and the internet makes it easier. With Investment,
:21:02. > :21:06.the balance is more about the people you bring on board. People
:21:06. > :21:10.in the internet world talk about a funding gap. It is getting the
:21:10. > :21:16.right expertise on your board, getting the growth to join you. The
:21:16. > :21:21.funding gap in the UK means the focus means you have to prove your
:21:21. > :21:28.business more than in the States. Before I come to Geoff, I want to
:21:28. > :21:32.go to David Branston. 70 % of small businesses, I am told, relied on
:21:32. > :21:37.people starting up with a savings and family in hennaed -- family
:21:37. > :21:43.inheritances because they cannot get loans. We are hearing this
:21:43. > :21:48.story all the time. Banks are not performing as they should. The
:21:48. > :21:57.targets have not been nest. They are �5 billion short of what they
:21:57. > :22:03.should be. Where banks have the targets to loan to it new loans.
:22:03. > :22:09.There are alternatives to this. You'd think it is a great idea?
:22:09. > :22:12.There is nothing wrong with peer- to-peer funding. Indeed, there is
:22:12. > :22:17.an emergence of money coming out of families into business just to make
:22:18. > :22:20.sure they are going. We have to do something. The banks say they have
:22:20. > :22:27.plenty of money to lend, but they do not lend it, or they put
:22:27. > :22:33.restrictions on it that it is not worth. Let me bring in Geoff French.
:22:33. > :22:38.What is your response? One of the things that got fed back to us was
:22:38. > :22:42.this issue of accessing finance. Now we are working with the banks
:22:42. > :22:52.to try and close that gap, to close the office this connect there is
:22:52. > :22:53.
:22:53. > :23:00.between the banks and business. That, sadly, is essential. That is
:23:00. > :23:05.why you could say it to the government, that it is the link
:23:05. > :23:11.between the two. They need to work together. Clearly that project
:23:11. > :23:14.failed. It is great to hear about finance other than banks. The
:23:14. > :23:18.publicity work the Federation of Small Businesses is doing is great,
:23:18. > :23:26.though we cannot let the banks of the hook. There are two things that
:23:26. > :23:31.need to happen. Those targets were having existing loans and calling
:23:31. > :23:36.them new loans. Clearly, at the right so -- right structures were
:23:36. > :23:41.not put in place by the government. Things have improved slightly, but
:23:41. > :23:44.not enough. What it is going to take, we have got an opportunity,
:23:44. > :23:50.we own part of banking and we should be setting the bar much
:23:50. > :23:54.higher. We have got new providers coming on as well, with Virgin,
:23:54. > :23:57.Metro, who are claiming they will be producing financial products
:23:57. > :24:01.that will meet people's needs. We ought to be having more competition
:24:01. > :24:06.in the banking world for people to do that. Two thing should happen:
:24:06. > :24:10.First, we need to get back to people making local decisions, been
:24:10. > :24:13.able to sit in front of people who are setting up start ups and making
:24:13. > :24:18.good business judgments about what will work and what will not. That
:24:18. > :24:23.does not happen now. We have got to have better services and products
:24:23. > :24:28.for business, but also for people who want mortgages and so forth.
:24:28. > :24:32.There is a complete disconnect between what people need to be
:24:32. > :24:39.starting on the property ladder. You are talking about a wider
:24:39. > :24:45.strategy. There is an increasing appetite for risk of. What Linda
:24:45. > :24:49.was saying about in the US, there is not the same stigma attached to
:24:49. > :24:53.business failure. It is regarded as something you can learn from so the
:24:53. > :24:56.next business will be successful. Local bank managers are great if
:24:56. > :25:00.they have more responsibility as long as they feel like they can
:25:00. > :25:04.take a risk and some of a warm-up the work and it will not be scored
:25:04. > :25:13.against them during their career. In your business, the business that
:25:13. > :25:17.you set up his medical supermarket. It is to sell suppliers to GPs who
:25:17. > :25:22.have this consortium now with the new health reforms. If the
:25:22. > :25:28.government changed their mind over this, where does that leave you?
:25:28. > :25:32.is interesting. Do you worry about it? To a degree, yes it. We are
:25:32. > :25:36.slightly different because the economy is quite a buckle and what
:25:36. > :25:39.we are doing naturally businesses are looking at their overheads and
:25:39. > :25:46.challenging their existing cost so. That is what medical supermarket is
:25:46. > :25:50.doing, helping those businesses in the health sector whether you are a
:25:50. > :25:54.large care home group or a local GP service, looking out what they are
:25:54. > :25:58.spending and hopefully challenging them and helping them achieve cost
:25:58. > :26:03.savings. To a degree, if the government does change what is
:26:03. > :26:06.going on, it could affect us, but not as bad as other industries.
:26:06. > :26:11.you do not worry about the future in terms of changing government
:26:11. > :26:16.policy that might impact you? necessarily, but we started again
:26:16. > :26:20.through family savings, my business partner and I. If you want to grow
:26:20. > :26:28.and prosper, we have proved we have got people that we want to employ
:26:28. > :26:36.and do more, but banks are not supporting us. We are talking about
:26:36. > :26:40.small businesses. The government talk the talk but they do not walk
:26:40. > :26:45.the walk. Small businesses are always the poor relation. There is
:26:45. > :26:48.not a Cabinet minister who has responsibility for small businesses,
:26:48. > :26:53.yet the Prime Minister says small businesses are going to be the
:26:53. > :26:57.salvation of the economy. Why do we have a Small Business
:26:57. > :27:01.Administration like they have in America? We need to change our
:27:01. > :27:06.mindset and take power back from banks and the government and say
:27:06. > :27:11.councils have responsibility for economic development. Credit unions
:27:11. > :27:15.are expanding rapidly in Berkshire for example. We need to take power
:27:15. > :27:19.back and make decision-making easier. Councillors are the best
:27:19. > :27:23.people in the world for that. A Cabinet minister may not have that
:27:23. > :27:30.experience. This has to be a government initiative to support
:27:30. > :27:33.the small businesses. Governments can make decisions on small
:27:33. > :27:40.business. If you have got a champion around the Cabinet table,
:27:40. > :27:45.that would help. The health service example, beat Solar subsidy, a
:27:45. > :27:50.great example where decisions are clumsily made and can have a bad
:27:50. > :27:54.effect. Equally, an investment in housing, but less than 100
:27:54. > :28:01.affordable houses were built around the country last year. It could
:28:01. > :28:08.create a huge number of jobs. was talking about a Cabinet
:28:08. > :28:18.minister champion there. You are a real industry champion, Nigel,
:28:18. > :28:21.
:28:21. > :28:26.onto? You believe let's sell I work in the marine sector which
:28:26. > :28:33.is worth �1 billion to the country. We do not shout about that. The
:28:33. > :28:38.marine sector is issued in Britain. Britain is all about quality yachts,
:28:38. > :28:45.but you do not hear that. We have to go and shout about it. Why is
:28:45. > :28:53.that? We are very English about it, very understated, we want people to
:28:53. > :28:57.find out about a little gem and that we have. When people see the
:28:57. > :29:05.quality we are doing, the hand- finished, we do not shout about
:29:05. > :29:11.this. You are very much involved with the links to India and you are
:29:11. > :29:18.saying, come on, let's shout about doing more trade with India. There
:29:18. > :29:22.is no doubt the emerging economies provide us an opportunity to grow
:29:22. > :29:27.hours or so. Our European counterparts are exporting more to
:29:27. > :29:34.India, Brazil, China and given the traditional links we have to
:29:34. > :29:40.India... You must be delighted that Vince Cable has been to India to
:29:40. > :29:45.talk about trade. What is the problem? It is a combination of
:29:45. > :29:52.factors. Once it is very much cold full, we are very much English and
:29:52. > :29:58.we need to promote that bilateral trade. I think the government could
:29:58. > :30:08.do more, so I think from -- the initiative is fantastic in
:30:08. > :30:15.commercialising that. It is a combination of factors. Geoff, you
:30:15. > :30:19.wanted to say something about that. It is just the basic statistic that
:30:19. > :30:24.four-fifths of our export art to the developed world and not the
:30:24. > :30:30.developing world and we have to change that focus. You want to do
:30:30. > :30:40.more with other countries, but this year, what have you got, �15
:30:40. > :30:44.
:30:44. > :30:50.million funding? Yes. Last year, there was 126 million. The Scottish
:30:51. > :30:55.Enterprise has 300 million, how can you compete in a Chinese company
:30:56. > :31:05.comes here? We would struggle to compete and the funding we have got
:31:05. > :31:10.is not to encourage industry is to come in that way. The 50 million we
:31:10. > :31:16.have -- 15 million is to invest in infrastructure that will promote
:31:16. > :31:22.economic growth. It is the way we will be administering it in our
:31:22. > :31:25.Beria, to invite bids for that money from both the public and
:31:25. > :31:34.private sector and it has to be projects that promote economic
:31:35. > :31:38.growth. Commercialisation is important for developing that
:31:38. > :31:43.infrastructure. There must be certain sectors where we know there
:31:43. > :31:48.is a potential for growth. It could be in renewable energy, the digital
:31:48. > :31:52.economy, in services for the elderly because we know as we
:31:52. > :31:58.project forward to the future that there are some industries where we
:31:58. > :32:04.have a good chance of building growth. Let's talk more about
:32:04. > :32:09.growth and bring in Nick. You work with apprenticeships. You believe
:32:09. > :32:14.apprenticeships are crucial in your business. Absolutely. It is an
:32:14. > :32:19.important part of our business in terms of being able to bring people
:32:19. > :32:23.into our business and train them, give them the skills and experience
:32:23. > :32:27.they need in our business. We are an engineering business, we have
:32:27. > :32:36.lots of the print ships coming through our doors and that works
:32:36. > :32:39.for us. The other thing is our customers tell us around the world,
:32:39. > :32:47.in emerging economies, they love for buying British products and
:32:47. > :32:53.that is great for us. We need to shout about that more. How much of
:32:53. > :32:58.your workforce is apprenticeships. About 90 %. We started when there
:32:58. > :33:03.was help to do it three or four years ago. The first year is the
:33:03. > :33:07.hardest. The government needs to get behind companies in that first
:33:07. > :33:13.year. After the first year they start to pay their way. You have to
:33:13. > :33:19.put money in it to get these kids of the street. Tom, you are an
:33:19. > :33:24.apprentice. Yes. The amount of training I get is substantial. I
:33:24. > :33:31.have done a confined spaces training because I am in
:33:31. > :33:36.construction. After the first year, I think they do need to be
:33:36. > :33:41.supported because after the first year, you can give back. As an
:33:41. > :33:48.apprentice do you feel positive about the future? Yes, because I
:33:48. > :33:52.believe that I can after this are printed, I can go to university and
:33:52. > :33:56.say to businesses, I have done this before, I know what this is about
:33:56. > :34:05.that is why you should pick me. apprenticeships are really
:34:05. > :34:10.important. What Geoff will take you is that with Enterprise is the
:34:10. > :34:17.apprentice champion for enterprise emissary. I sit on the board in
:34:17. > :34:24.Dorset. In many ways I am envious. He has a �15 million, I have six.
:34:24. > :34:28.That will not even build a roundabout! I said earlier about
:34:28. > :34:34.there is no doubt apprenticeships are really important but I also
:34:34. > :34:38.think for people leaving school without qualifications, we need to
:34:38. > :34:43.put work experience in there. It is a pity the debate recently was
:34:43. > :34:49.about taking the benefit away from people because there is no doubt
:34:49. > :34:54.work experience is the gateway in. A third of all work experience
:34:54. > :34:59.leads to employment. For every school to offer work-related
:34:59. > :35:04.learning to every pupil is essential. What I want to do is
:35:04. > :35:09.move on to how we feel about the future and how we are looking to
:35:09. > :35:14.the future and what sort of mood we are in. This is a big influence on
:35:14. > :35:18.the economy. Even if you have the money or perhaps you are too afraid
:35:18. > :35:28.or worried about spending it, here are some views from the street in
:35:28. > :35:29.
:35:29. > :35:36.Brighton. We are both retired and you make do.
:35:36. > :35:43.The wages do not go up so you end up having one pizza between two.
:35:43. > :35:49.are OK, we are fine. You have to have a positive attitude in life.
:35:49. > :35:55.You can see many people are dining out, or the pubs of all. More I
:35:55. > :36:00.partner is out of work and cannot supply our house, so there is only
:36:00. > :36:07.one wage going in and that is tight. I am noticing that the shopping
:36:07. > :36:11.bill is expensive now. And the petrol. Yes. On the whole, the
:36:11. > :36:18.country is looking up rather than down so I think if everybody goes
:36:18. > :36:25.about it with a good attitude, all is well.
:36:25. > :36:31.The views on the streets of Brighton on Friday night. Hayley,
:36:31. > :36:37.do you see light at the end of the tunnel? No, absolutely not. For me
:36:37. > :36:43.my wages have gone down and will continue to go down and the prices
:36:43. > :36:49.will go up. I do not see how this would end. I feel like I am a
:36:49. > :36:55.choice -- I am left with a choice, I would like to have a family and
:36:55. > :36:59.looking at barely's story, I do not want to be in that position. I do
:36:59. > :37:06.not know whether I want to stay here, why should I put into a in
:37:06. > :37:11.economy that will not support me. Hayley is talking about her
:37:11. > :37:18.individual situation but what I have to say is the F S B carries
:37:18. > :37:22.out a major survey. Two years ago there was a lot of pessimism. This
:37:22. > :37:27.last survey, there were 12,000 small businesses and their shows
:37:27. > :37:34.that people are beginning to think there is light at the end of the
:37:34. > :37:37.tunnel. I worked for the public sector and it is pessimistic.
:37:37. > :37:43.believe it is down to consumer confidence because if nobody is
:37:43. > :37:50.willing to go for it and spend more in the economy and not cut back on
:37:50. > :37:55.the luxury is so much, it will never pick up. If people are too
:37:55. > :38:01.scared of a rainy day or they will be the next to have their job cuts,
:38:01. > :38:06.we will not get any work. Aston, how do you feel about the future?
:38:06. > :38:12.Definitely. I have a job I love and it is amazing just going out and
:38:12. > :38:17.doing what I can. That is how I feel and it is not a broad sense of
:38:17. > :38:21.everyone but for me, I am just carrying on going through life.
:38:21. > :38:26.Maybe my social life has taken a battering, but my career is going
:38:26. > :38:33.up tenfold and I am appreciative of the help I have gained and the
:38:33. > :38:39.people I have met along the way. Thank you very much or the view for
:38:39. > :38:44.being here tonight. The Chancellor's Budget is on Wednesday