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Economic Recovery

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to point out that this country needs skilled engineers. There are continuing issues about skills at all levels of the skill range. One of the few points made by the right hon. Member for Wokingham with which I agree was that we need to address skills issues. I agree that we need the right skills and that access to capital is a fundamental issue, as are planning and land issues. These are all important if we are to get it right and ensure that the UK is competitive in the future. When it comes to access to capital, I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will welcome the lending commitments that the Government have negotiated with the RBS and Lloyds banking group as part of the recapitalisation programme. I hope he will welcome the Government’s enterprise finance guarantee and the work we have done with the European Investment Bank to ensure that additional loans are available to small and medium-sized businesses in this country. All those are important steps.