Departmental report : 2006 / Dept. of Trade and Industry ; presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

  • Great Britain. Department of Trade and Industry
Date:
2006
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Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Departmental report : 2006 / Dept. of Trade and Industry ; presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    FOREWORD The Departmental Report sets out the work of the Department over the last 12 months, key achievements where real progress has been made and plans for the forthcoming year. Alan Johnson was serving as Secretary of State for the period covered by this Report. | look forward to continuing his work with my Ministerial colleagues. DTI's purpose is to create the conditions for business success and to help the UK respond to the challenge of globalisation. And that means operating in an evolving world where India and China are growing rapidly, where new technologies quickly appear rendering old products obsolete, and where the population is ageing in Europe whilst the developing world is getting younger. But Britain is well placed to succeed in this changing world. If anyone is able to grow business in this shrinking world by producing high value adding goods and services that people want to buy, it is Britain. But we still face challenges with low productivity and pockets of unemployment. In addition, along with all other developed countries, we are dealing with lower growth, higher energy prices and bigger pension bills. And so to succeed we need to embrace innovation and change, and not be stuck in the past. We need to turn outward, using our links with Europe, America and the Commonwealth, instead of retreating inward. Technological change will continue and we must move with the times. DTI's role in this changing world is vital. Internationally, we are leading the global debates on energy and trade, building on last year’s G8 and European Presidencies. In Europe, other Member States are looking to our employment record as a model for them to follow. Domestically, we are continuing our work to create the conditions for business success. Last year we ran a business-like, impartial presidency. DTI played a key role in achieving this, contributing to the efficient way Councils were chaired and business conducted. We made substantial progress on a number of difficult issues. For example, on better regulation, with the Commission's withdrawal of 68 proposals for legislation, Its publication of its simplification programme and substantial progress on economic reform and the opening up of markets. We produced tangible results, including achieving political agreement on the REACH chemicals regulation saving business over €600 million. And whilst the WTO Hong Kong round delivered only modest progress, on a freer and fairer trading system, we included agreement on the ending of all export subsidies in agriculture by 2013 with substantial progress due to be made by 2008. At home, we've taken difficult decisions on contentious issues. We launched ‘the Energy Review which will look at what measures are needed to tackle climate change and to ensure secure energy supplies in the UK for 2020 and beyond. The Review will report their
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