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Employment, Universities and Skills and Housing

To counter some of the doom and gloom emanating from the Opposition Benches, may I inform my right hon. Friend of a company that I visited in Tipton a couple of weeks ago, called Carrs Tool Steels? It has just invested in a new milling machine, with the aid of a grant from Advantage West Midlands—the RDA—and the backing of a local bank. That machine will increase its productivity twelvefold; it is the only such machine in the country. It will have a remarkable impact on the company's future prospects. I ask him to make sure that such funding from regional development agencies, and the work that RDAs do with local financial institutions, is maintained. The situation is a contrast to what would happen if some of the policies promoted by the Opposition were put in place.