They are Britain’s employment creators and are anticipating new hires will increase by 7 per cent in the next 12 months, while the average turnover is expected to rise by 17 per cent.

The QCA’s Higgins reckons those figures alone justify the use of the term ‘engines of growth’ for the sector his organisation represents. On the evidence of the ebullient mood at the Dorchester, this key part of Britain’s economy will continue to thrive.

Muck to brass

One small company which has attracted star fund manager Neil Woodford is Propelair, which emerged from one man’s desire to reduce the amount of water used when flushing the lavatory. It’s a tale of true British ingenuity.

Garry Moore founded the business in 2001 and last year lured more than £2million from the Woodford Equity Income Fund.

During a hosepipe ban, Propelair’s chief executive, who came from an engineering background with BT, turned his mind to how to reduce the amount of water used in a typical lavatory cistern – where each flush uses up to nine litres of potable water.

The Propelair technology reduces water usage by 84 per cent and needs just 1.5 litres of water per flush, as well as reducing energy consumption. It works by using an air pump. The toilet lid is closed, forming a seal, and the air, along with a small amount of water, cleans the bowl.

Organisations that have adopted Propelair’s system include Royal Bank of Scotland, halving the bank’s water costs.

Propelair will soon look to overseas markets to sell its product either through direct exports or a local presence. It could be a much-needed British export success story when George Osborne’s March Of The Makers looks to have slowed to walking pace.

Arms dealers

The world’s largest defence and security exhibition opens next week at London’s ExCel Centre at a time when the Government desperately needs to give fresh impetus to British exports.

This is a serious showcase for British-made equipment for military and security forces and is therefore regarded as controversial in some quarters, such as campaigners against the arms trade.

Inevitably protests will occur outside but the focus inside the exhibition halls will be on how to retake ground lost to rival manufacturers, including the French.

Lobby group ADS wants soldiers, sailors and airmen to help punt British equipment overseas. It’s certainly true to say that the backing of the Government for tanks, fighter jets and ships gives them an important cachet when companies such as BAE Systems are trying to sell them overseas. Which purchaser, after all, would have much confidence in a platform that a manufacturer’s own government has declined to buy?

Much lip service will also be given looking ahead to the potential ramifications of the upcoming Strategic Defence and Security Review, which will set military budgets for the next several years.

The 2010 version was an unmitigated disaster, leaving the UK without a maritime patrol aircraft or combat jets to equip the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers. British industry – and her military – cannot afford another such failure.

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