checklist of 

commitments


BuildingUK capabilities 

. 
create an Enterprise Fund 
. 
support the National Campaign for Enterprise 
. 
provide advice to at least 10,000 start-ups a year by 
2001 through Business Links 
. 
change the law to give businesses in difficulties 
more chance to turn things round 
. 
review arrangements for business rescues and 
whether bankruptcy and insolvency law needs to be 
changed to support enterprise 
. 
extend the Young Enterprise Scheme 
. 
consult on corporate venturing and review public 
financial markets for small businesses 
. 
modernise Government services for exporters 
. 
review the Queen’s Awards for Industry 
. 
boost science spending in partnership with the 
Wellcome Trust by an extra £1.4 billion 
. 
increase DTI’s Innovation Budget by more than 
20 per cent 
. 
create a new reach-out fund to promote English 
university interaction with business 
. 
launch a £25 million Science Enterprise Challenge, 
creating up to eight enterprise centres in universities 
. 
establish a national network of Faraday Partnerships 
. 
double DTI’s contribution to the TCS (Teaching 
Company Scheme) 
. 
launch a second round of Foresight 
. 
provide £10 million for a second round of Foresight 
LINK Awards 
. 
consider the case for an extended SMART scheme 
and tax incentives to encourage R&D in SMEs 
. 
recommend ways of making more of the commercial 
potential of the outputs of public sector Research 
Establishments 
. 
spread benchmarking of investment in skills through 
the People Skills Scoreboard 
. 
publish Creating a Great Place to Work 
. 
develop a best practice model on spreading learning 
through the supply chain 
. 
review Government-supported skills development 
schemes 
. 
appoint a Special Representative for the Digital 
Economy (the e-Envoy) 
. 
ensure that, by 2002, the UK provides the best 
environment in the world for electronic trading 
. 
launch new support services aimed at helping one 
million UK businesses to get wired up to the digital 
market place by 2002 

Collaborate 
to compete 


. 
substantially support the CBI’s Fit for the Future 
campaign 
. 
ensure that 50,000 businesses every year undertake 
benchmarking or other best practice activity for the 
first time 
. 
fund up to ten proposals from sectors to improve 
their supply chains adapting the SMMT Industry 
Forum model 
. 
publish a Tourism Strategy in the New Year 
. 
add £10 million to RDAs’ funds for spending on 
their competitiveness priorities 
. 
ask RDAs to review the coherence and quality of 
business support in their area against local and 
regional priorities in their economic strategies 
. 
evaluate the effectiveness of DTI business support in 
improving business practices 
. 
launch new Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and 
Islands economic strategies in 1999 
. 
in Wales, continue to implement Pathway to 
Prosperity – A New Economic Agenda for Wales; in 
Northern Ireland, prepare a draft economic 
development strategy for consideration by the new 
Northern Ireland assembly 
. 
refocus Regional Selective assistance on more high-
quality, knowledge-based projects 
. 
introduce a forward looking Assisted Areas Map, 
taking account of recent consultation 
. 
consider new measures to support growth of smaller 
businesses in areas with particular needs 
. 
look at specific ways to work more closely with local 
government to support new investment and 
business competitiveness 
. 
set up new Business Link Centres of Expertise to 
provide local access to new specialist services 
. 
increase the Invest in Britain Bureau’s focus on 
attracting high-value projects 
. 
examine whether there is scope to lower barriers to 
immigration that prevent entrepreneurs and skilled 
professionals from coming to or remaining in the UK 
and welcome suggestions from business 
. 
create the conditions which encourage the formation 
and growth of clusters and set up a ministerially-led 
team to look at biotechnology clusters 
. 
draw up Scottish Enterprise action plans for clusters 
in the next financial year 
. 
report to the Secretary of State in January 1999 on 
how to develop “Genome Valley” in several regions 
of the UK 
. 
launch a major new initiative to succeed 
Biotechnology Means Business in the New Year 
. 
review how the planning system can best help 
promote the needs of clusters 
. 
support a pilot study to identify the knowledge 
management needs of smaller businesses 

Competitive,
modern markets 

. 
maintain the UK’s position as one of the world’s 
most open economies 
. 
provide the OFT with an extra £15 million over three 
years to enforce the new Competition Act effectively 
. 
consult on the case for reform of the mergers regime 
in early 1999 
. 
implement an action plan to modernise the 
intellectual property rights system 
. 
establish a voluntary licensing scheme for 
organisations providing secure electronic message 
services 
. 
work with consumers and businesses trading 
electronically to draw up a code of conduct by 
Summer 1999 
. 
remove legal obstacles that stand in the way of 
electronic commerce 
. 
ensure that on-line products are treated as services, 
attracting no customs charges, and that import and 
export procedures can be completed electronically 
. 
reform telecommunications regulation 
. 
make the removal of remaining barriers to trade a 
priority in future international trade negotiations 
. 
implement 98 per cent of Single Market measures 
by the end of 2000 
. 
provide practical help to SMEs as the euro is 
introduced 
. 
publish the strategy for a major review of company 
law early in 1999 
. 
introduce legislation to improve the regulation of 
financial services 
. 
publish a comprehensive consumer strategy in 
Spring 1999 that will improve advice to consumers 
on their rights and be more effective in putting rogue 
traders out of business 
. 
review with the British Standards Institution what 
can be done to accelerate standards setting 
. 
ask the Accounting Standards Board, in consultation 
with others, to look at the scope for better guidance 
on disclosure of intangible assets 

checklist of commitments


Innovation and 
entrepreneurshipin government 

. 
use the £150 million Invest to Save Budget to enable 
more efficient joint working by public bodies 
. 
establish a new Productivity and Competitiveness 
Cabinet Committee 
. 
ensure that, by March 2001, 90 per cent by volume 
of routine procurement of goods by central 
Government is conducted electronically 
. 
ensure that, by 2002, 25 per cent of Government 
services are accessible electronically 
. 
set up an Enterprise Unit to act as a focal point for 
the Department’s work on the entrepreneurship 
agenda 
. 
establish a DTI Knowledge Management Unit 
. 
carry forward the work of the Future Unit to 
champion the knowledge driven economy 
. 
provide better information for SMEs, building on the 
Enterprise Zone web-site 
. 
develop a Competitiveness Index, based on a set of 
competitiveness indicators, to measure the UK’s 
progress 
. 
appoint a Competitiveness Council, drawn from a 
cross-section of business people, to advise on the 
Index and other issues 
65 


Measures to tackle 
the productivity gap, 
as set out in the 

Pre-Budget Report 

Encouraging innovation and enterprise with: 

. 
a £25 million Science Enterprise Challenge to endow 
up to eight new enterprise centres in universities 
. 
consultation on ways to encourage more 
investment in R&D and on reforming the taxation 
of intellectual property and royalty payments 
. 
reviews of tax options to encourage investment 
and growth in SMEs, to encourage social 
entrepreneurship in smaller growing companies 
and on incentives to promote corporate venturing 
. 
forthcoming DTI reviews of corporate rescue 
procedures and insolvency and bankruptcy law. 
Ensuring that capital markets work effectively to 
provide investment: 

. 
a review of policies on employee share ownership 
and equity incentives for managers in smaller 
high-tech ventures 
. 
working with the banks in a review of the 
banking sector 
. 
proposals to encourage transparency in institutional 
investment 
. 
work by the Financial Services Authority to help 
promote a more competitive, innovative and trusted 
savings market. 
Ensuring that competitive pressures are strengthened 
and that regulation promotes economic growth: 

. 
a substantial increase in resources for the Office 
of Fair Trading 
. 
a review of the impact of regulation on productivity, 
by the Better Regulation Task Force 
. 
work on the effects of the planning system on 
the competitiveness of business, particularly in 
growth industries. 
Ensuring that the UK’s skills base is geared to 
the needs of a modern economy, building on the 
£19 billion additional funding provided in the 
Comprehensive Spending Review: 

. 
ensuring that the National Curriculum better 
prepares young people for the world of work and 
working to improve partnerships between business 
and schools 
. 
a determination to increase the employability of 
students in higher education 
. 
new National Learning Targets for skills levels and 
further encouragement for lifelong learning. 
In parallel the Government has embarked on an 
ambitious programme to improve productivity in 
the public sector 

. 
it will publish departmental Public Service 
Agreements, setting out stretching targets for 
improving delivery 
. 
a Public Services Productivity Panel, drawn from 
business and the public sector, will advise on ways 
of improving the productivity of public services 
. 
reviews of civil procurement and the Private Finance 
Initiative. 

We need to take up the challenge of the future. Only 
business can deliver prosperity and jobs. Government 
must know when to act, and when to keep out of the 
way. The Secretary of State has said that if business 
needs to draw his attention to any actions in central 
government that are holding back enterprise, it should 
contact him by writing to: 

The Rt Hon Peter Mandelson MP 
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
Department of Trade and Industry 
1-19 Victoria Street 
London SW1H 0ET 
or by e-mail on: comp.unit@cudv.dti.gov.uk 

The text of the White Paper is also available on the 
Internet at www.dti.gov.uk/comp/competitive