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Finance (No. 2) Bill

There has been some growth in the economy, but I am commenting on productivity decline in the public sector and public services. The manufacturing productivity growth rate has been pretty good. Part of that is due to the enormous influence of the international market, which is competitive and forces companies to compete better. However, I am afraid that part of it is due to a large number of factory closures, of which Peugeot and Rover are some of the most public in recent months, which have closed down the less efficient capacity. The average efficiency of what remains therefore increases. Approximately 1 million manufacturing jobs have been destroyed under the Government, partly because of tax and regulatory considerations and partly because of the international competitive climate. That raises the average productivity growth and overall productivity of the remainder. That is why I am concentrating not on manufacturing but on the public services and the public sector, where the productivity record, on the Government’s figures—until they stopped producing them—was poor. It is obvious that the figures must be poor, otherwise the huge sums of money going into the health service and the education service would produce much better results, and not throw up such large deficits and redundancies.