Good News and Bad News in the Economy
UK business investment jumps most since 1987 in first quarter Investment by UK businesses increased at the fastest pace in more than 20 years in the first quarter of 2010, boosted by the services and construction sectors.
Welsh exports for the four quarters up to and including quarter 1 2010 were down 16.8 per cent on the previous four quarters (sum of the devolved countries and English regions down 5.2 per cent). Figures for quarter 1 2010 in isolation were down on the same quarter of 2009 and the previous quarter. All but one of the twelve devolved countries and English regions saw falls over this period. Wales had the second largest percentage decreases in the value of exports over these four quarters (down 16.8 per cent). Northern Ireland saw the biggest fall over this period (down 17.6 per cent). Scotland was the only devolved country/region to have an increase over this period (up 3.6 per cent).
The very good news is that the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed a contract with South Wales-based General Dynamics UK to deliver the Specialist Vehicle (SV) for the British Army. The demonstration phase, which has been activated by the signature of the contract by Peter Luff MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for Defence Equipment, Support & Technology is worth £500m. The demonstration phase will see the development of seven prototypes for the Scout reconnaissance vehicle and supporting variants built on the ASCOD SV Common Base Platform, as well as providing associated training equipment.