The National Enterprise Board (NEB) was a
United Kingdom government
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, image = HM Government logo.svg
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body. It was set up in 1975 by the
Labour government of
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...
, to support the government's interventionist approach to
industry. In 1981 the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
government of
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
, combined the NEB with the
National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) to form the
British Technology Group
BTG Limited is an international specialist healthcare company that is developing and commercialising products targeting critical care, cancer and other disorders. The current name was adopted when the British Technology Group changed its name on ...
.
Background
The NEB was the brainchild of the economist
Stuart Holland and the Shadow Secretary of State for Industry
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the Labour Party, ...
in the early-1970s, and was modelled on the Italian
Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale
The Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI; English: "Institute for Industrial Reconstruction") was an Italian public holding company established in 1933 by the Fascist regime to rescue, restructure and finance banks and private companies ...
(IRI), which was seen to have successfully restructured the Italian economy after World War II. In its original conception, the NEB was intended to extend public control and
ownership
Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...
of the economy, by taking a stake in the UK's leading manufacturing firms, which would then be required to make
planning
Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. The evolution of forethought, the capacity to think ahead, is c ...
agreements to meet economic targets. Although the leadership of the
Labour Party did not fully accept these proposals, they appeared in the Labour Party's manifesto for the
February 1974 general election and the
October 1974 election.
The Labour Party manifesto for the October 1974 general election stated:
We shall set up a National Enterprise Board to administer publicly-owned share-holdings: to extend public ownership into profitable manufacturing industry by acquisitions, partly or wholly, of individual firms; to stimulate investment; to create employment in areas of high unemployment; to encourage industrial democracy; to promote industrial efficiency; to increase exports and reduce our dependence on imports; to combat private monopoly; and to prevent British industries from passing into unacceptable foreign control.
A new and urgent Industry Act will provide for a system of Planning Agreements between the Government and key companies to ensure that the plans of those companies are in harmony with national needs and objectives and that Government financial assistance is deployed where it will be most effectively used. Wherever we give direct aid to a company out of public funds we shall reserve the right to take a proportionate share of the ownership of the company; and wherever possible this public support will be channelled through the Planning Agreements System.
History
The plans were outlined in the 1974
White Paper
A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...
''The Regeneration of British Industry'' and the
Industry Act 1975 enacted these measures, establishing the NEB.
Its primary role was that of holding a substantial level of equity in major manufacturing companies. In its final form the NEB was watered down from its original proposals, with planning agreements being made voluntary instead of compulsory.
It took equity in various companies including
British Leyland
British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partly ...
,
Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to:
* Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct
Automobiles
* Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
,
Alfred Herbert,
Sinclair Radionics
Sinclair Radionics Ltd was a company founded by Sir Clive Sinclair in Cambridge, England which developed hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments.
History
After raising funds to start the business by writing articles ...
and
Ferranti
Ferranti or Ferranti International plc was a UK electrical engineering and equipment firm that operated for over a century from 1885 until it went bankrupt in 1993. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
The firm was known ...
.
[Ferranti Timeline]
– '' Museum of Science and Industry (Accessed 22-02-2012)''
Activities
In practice the NEB's main activity became one of rescuing failing companies, with mixed results.
It also made efforts to develop Britain's fledgling electronics and computer industries.
One of the first tasks of the NEB was the production of the
Ryder Report, named after the NEB's new chairman,
Lord Ryder, on the future of British Leyland.
In 1975 the NEB bailed out the struggling electronics firm
Ferranti
Ferranti or Ferranti International plc was a UK electrical engineering and equipment firm that operated for over a century from 1885 until it went bankrupt in 1993. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
The firm was known ...
and effectively nationalised it, acquiring a 65% share of the company.
[''Ferranti: A History - Building a Family Business 1882–1975 J F Wilson'' ] This was returned to the private sector in 1980 as a profitable company.
In 1977 the NEB rescued
Sinclair Radionics
Sinclair Radionics Ltd was a company founded by Sir Clive Sinclair in Cambridge, England which developed hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments.
History
After raising funds to start the business by writing articles ...
from bankruptcy, provided a loan facility and took effective control of the company by acquiring a 73% stake.
The
memory
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remember ...
and
microprocessor
A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circ ...
company
Inmos was set up by the NEB in 1978.
[Wayne Sandholtz (1992) "High-Tech Europe: The Politics of International Cooperation." Berkeley: '']University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facul ...
br>p. 155
/ref>
Demise
After the Conservative Party took power in 1979 under Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
's leadership, the NEB's powers began to be eroded. The last Labour-appointed chairman of the NEB was Sir Leslie Murphy, who resigned with his entire board when Sir Keith Joseph
Keith Sinjohn Joseph, Baron Joseph, (17 January 1918 – 10 December 1994), known as Sir Keith Joseph, 2nd Baronet, for most of his political life, was a British politician, intellectual and barrister. A member of the Conservative Party, he ...
(the new industry minister) decided to remove its responsibility for the government's holding in Rolls-Royce later that year.
The next chairman was Sir Arthur Knight who was content to lose a number of companies, but strongly supported the Inmos microchip project. However he eventually became frustrated by the government and resigned in November 1980. The 1980 Industry Act and new Guidelines had restricted the NEB role to a catalytic investment role, nationally and regionally, particularly related to advanced technology and small firms.
Knight was succeeded by his deputy, Sir John King (later Lord King of Wartnaby), who proceeded, with some vigour, to dismantle most of the board's remaining activities.
In 1981, under the chairmanship of Sir Frederick Wood, the NEB was combined with the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) to form the British Technology Group
BTG Limited is an international specialist healthcare company that is developing and commercialising products targeting critical care, cancer and other disorders. The current name was adopted when the British Technology Group changed its name on ...
(BTG).Abstract of Department of Trade and Industry report "Monitoring of British Technology Group"
/ref>
In 1992 BTG was transferred to the private sector
The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government.
Employment
The ...
and in 1995 listed on the London stock exchange as BTG plc, when it became a leading technology transfer company that commercialised intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
acquired from research organisations and companies around the world.[Overview of BTG International's history]
List of chairmen
* 1975–1977: Lord Ryder
* 1977–1979: Sir Leslie Murphy
* 1979–1980: Sir Arthur Knight
* 1980–1981: Sir John King
* 1981: Sir Frederick Wood
See also
* National Research Development Corporation
*Minister of Technology
The Ministry of Technology was a department of the government of the United Kingdom, sometimes abbreviated as "MinTech". The Ministry of Technology was established by the incoming government of Harold Wilson in October 1964 as part of Wilson's am ...
*Alvey
The Alvey Programme was a British government sponsored research programme in information technology that ran from 1984 to 1990. The programme was a reaction to the Japanese Fifth Generation project, which aimed to create a computer using massi ...
References
{{reflist
External links
BTG plc
National Enterprise Board
- Grace's Guide
This is a list of encyclopedias and encyclopedic/biographical dictionaries published on the subject of business, information and information technology, economics and businesspeople in any language. Entries are in the English language except whe ...
Economic history of the United Kingdom
Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom
Research and development in the United Kingdom
1975 establishments in the United Kingdom