§ 2. Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade what is the minimum load which the British Overseas Trade Board will consider for small businesses seeking to enter the export trade making use of the market entry guarantee scheme.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Trade (Mr. Michael Meacher)The minimum assistance under the market entry guarantee scheme is £20,000, whch implies that the applicant expects to incur eligible costs of at least £40,000 over the years in which the export venture is expected to incur an annual loss.
§ Mr. MitchellForty thousand pounds is a large sum. Does it not knock out the smaller firm? Will the Government consider lowering the limit so as to encourage the smaller business to go into the export trade?
§ Mr. MeacherThe size of the firm does not matter, in the sense that 70 per cent. of applicants have had a turnover of less than £2 million a year. In fact, it was the British Overseas Trade Board that fixed the limit because it believed that smaller firms would probably operate through local agents or distributors so that the marketing costs would be 1119 covered by commission or by a mark-up pro rata to sales and hence would not be at risk.