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UK Software Industry

I am grateful, Mr Weir, to be serving under your chairmanship today, instead of serving with you on Committee as we were yesterday, and will be again tomorrow. I congratulate the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South (Bridget Phillipson) on securing this important debate. May I give her one quick, straight answer, which is that I would be delighted to meet her at a later date if she finds my speech unsatisfactory? I can make a safe prediction that because I am a Minister and she is member of the Opposition, my speech will almost certainly fall short in some respects of what she wishes. I would also be only too delighted to visit Sunderland and see some of the innovation and technology happening in that city. The hon. Lady used her speech to highlight brilliantly the sort of technology expertise that now exists in Sunderland. In fact, as pointed out, in the north-east alone it is said that the software and IT industry is worth something like £800 million; there are almost 2,200 businesses, 27,000 people and companies such as 5G, which she mentioned, and, in other parts of the north-east, Sage, Reflections and Eutechnyx. Sunderland is a hub of high-tech industry. I am grateful to some of the other hon. Members who have contributed to the debate. The hon. Member for Southport (Dr Pugh) made a thoughtful speech, which was not partisan but reflected on many of the issues that affect the software industry. He effectively turned the debate, for a moment, into one on the video games industry. Another point, which I shall return to, and which I absolutely support him on, was his reflection that in schools children today are learning how to use applications rather than learning how to programme. In fact, the hon. Gentleman might have shared with me some of the anecdotal experiences of talking to some of our top games developers, many of whom learned their trade, as it were, on the BBC Acorn computer in the '80s. We simply do not have such access to the nuts and bolts of technology. One of the things that I want to work on, in a big society kind of way—I am one of those Ministers who fully understands what the big society is—is some sort of after-school club where children can sit down with developers and learn how to programme. I also took on board the hon. Gentleman's points about big IT and big government. He will be well aware that many members of the new Government, particularly the Chancellor, are keen supporters of open source software. The Government are very focused on ensuring that small and medium-sized enterprises get a fair share of the cake from the Government. I was pleased that the hon. Gentleman took a realistic view about the fate of BECTA—we should not always focus on the quango as the be-all and end-all of Government policy. I am sure that schools will continue to access excellent high-tech IT equipment for their children, not least from RM plc, one of the foremost educational technology providers in this country, based in my constituency, at Milton park in Didcot. It was good to hear the speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Hove (Mike Weatherley), whose soon-to-be constituency I visited during the election. I am not sure whether I made a big impact; I suspect it was his hard work and dedication to his now constituents that secured him the seat. He has already made a name for himself in the House with his passionate support for the creative industries. He used to work in the film and music industry. His focus is on piracy, to ensure that there is a balanced debate and that we remember that rights holders deserve to make money from their creations. I take on board his points about the R and D tax credits. I am delighted to see my hon. Friend the Member for North Swindon (Justin Tomlinson) in the Chamber, having won his seat at the election. His remarks reflected the change of tone in the House on video games. When I was an Opposition spokesman and talked about the importance of video games, the only Labour Member who would talk about video games was the right hon. Member for Leicester East (Keith Vaz), who regularly criticised them for their violence and their effects on society—he alleged. It is good that my hon. Friends are now standing up and saying proudly that they are players of video games.