HC Deb 13 December 1965 vol 722 cc908-11
35. Sir H. Harrison

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will give details of the circumstances of the failure of Her Majesty's Consulate Office in New York to make the proper arrangements for a group of Midland exporters for the sale of their products; and if he will take steps to see this does not happen in the future.

39. Mr. Bradley

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he is aware of the failure of British Consulates in America to facilitate the recent trade mission of the Leicester and County Chamber of Commerce in their efforts to promote the exports of local industries; and if he will take steps to ensure that future missions from Great Britain receive adequate assistance.

45. Mr. Peel

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware of the breakdown in the arrangements made by the Consular representative in New York to enable a party of Leicester businessmen to promote exports to the United States of America recently; and what action he proposes to take to ensure that such obstacles to the promotion of exports do not occur again.

48. Mr. Fisher

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of recent complaints of lack of help to British businessmen in New York, he will ensure that British embassies and consulates overseas are instructed to afford every assistance to firms wishing to export British products to the countries to which they are accredited.

Mr. Padley

I have investigated the criticisms made of the arrangements for this visit and conclude that there were certain shortcomings in the organisation of the mission's programme in New York. These were due mainly to the failure of the Leicester Chamber of Commerce to provide adequate information about the mission's requirements, but partly also to some lack of co-ordination between the Leicester Chamber, the British-American Chamber of Commerce, which was in general charge of the arrangements, and the Consulate-General. The Consulate-General which was brought in at a very late stage has already expressed regret. I am glad to say that arrangements for the visits of this Mission to Los Angeles and Chicago appear to have been satisfactory and the tour of the United States in general to have been regarded as successful.

The criticisms expressed by the Leicester Chamber are notably at variance with the many tributes paid by exporters of wide experience including other export missions, who have found our staff, whether at New York or elsewhere, efficient and helpful. As hon. Members will know, commercial work is now a first charge on the resources of the Diplomatic Service. It is up to individual export missions to brief themselves in good time on the markets which they propose to visit and to let chambers of commerce and our posts abroad know their requirements well in advance.

Sir H. Harrison

Does not the Minister of State know full well that he is really whitewashing the whole of this affair and that there is a cause for great complaint? Surely it is the job of our embassies abroad to know when these missions are coming and to go ahead and consult. The hon. Gentleman ought to investigate this matter a great deal further than it appears he has done from the reply that he has given today. Will he consider whether the time has arrived when, on a short-term basis, we should have some men in our commercial embassies overseas who have had experience in selling?

Mr. Padley

My noble Friend the Minister of State at the Board of Trade is an industrialist of considerable experience. I am a trade unionist of considerable experience. Both of us have investigated the whole of the facts of this situ- ation and, while we are ready to acknowledge that there was some fault on the part of the Consulate-General, we believe that there was equal fault at least on the part of the Leicester and County Chamber of Commerce in not responding to an earlier request for advance information of the visit of the mission. I would like to say to the House that——

Mr. Farr

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Is not this laborious pontification from the Government Front Bench entirely out of order and against your wishes in this connection?

Mr. Speaker

I will not deal with that point of order at the moment.

Mr. Padley

I was answering three Questions together, and if one divides the length of my reply by three——

Mr. Speaker

Order. Comment on what a right hon. or hon. Gentleman is going to do with a Question takes time. He must answer.

Mr. Padley

The last point that I was going to make was that, in view of the publicity that has attached to the matter, it is worth while remembering that the combined efforts of British industry and the commercial counsellors of the British Embassy in the United States have led to Britain exporting 16 per cent. more to the United States in the first nine months of this year than they did last year.

Mr. Bradley

Is not my hon. Friend aware that there is growing support for the criticisms made by the Leicester and County Chamber of Commerce of our consular services? Will he use this opportunity to introduce a searching inquiry with a view to improving both the structure and the composition of our commercial representation abroad?

Mr. Padley

The searching inquiry was in fact conducted by the Plowden Committee. I must say that it is not only industrialists outside the House but industrialists on both sides of the Chamber who, in discussions with me in recent months, have paid personal tribute to the great improvement that has taken place in the last few years in the commercial services of British embassies abroad.

Mr. Fisher

Will the hon. Gentleman say whether it is true that the consulate in New York gave no assistance at all to this delegation with briefing on the American market and no assistance to get their goods through the Customs? Those are two particular points. In general, will he ensure that in future all our embassies are given a positive directive to give really knowledgeable and accurate assistance to all exporters, not only to America but all over the world?

Mr. Padley

This is a very complex issue. In fact, the mission was met at the airport by the Anglo-American Joint Chamber of Commerce. If the Anglo-American Joint Chamber of Commerce met the mission, it was certainly not obligatory on an officer of the embassy to meet them.

Mr. Peel

Would not the Minister of State agree that the Leicester Chamber of Commerce replied to all letters received from New York very promptly indeed? If he is not aware of that, will he please look into the matter and check on it? Secondly, will he please examine the liaison between our official representatives abroad and chambers of commerce so that there will not be any breakdown in these arrangements in future?

Mr. Padley

I accept that it is of enormous importance that there should be the utmost co-operation between the commercial services of the Diplomatic Service and British industry. So far as there was any slip-up on the part of the commercial services of the British Diplomatic Service, my original Answer apologised for it. All I emphasised was that a good deal of the fault lay on the other side.

Several Hon. Members rose

——

Mr. Speaker

Order.

Sir H. Harrison

Owing to the unsatisfactory nature of the reply, and particularly as the Foreign Office told me that the Minister would answer on this matter at the end of Questions and he answered during Questions—which shows that his own Department does not know what it is doing—I shall raise the matter on the Adjournment at the earliest possible moment.