Small and Medium-Sized Firms (Hansard, 14 May 1986)

§ 1. Mr. Bright
asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what his Department is doing to improve the export marketing of small and medium-sized British firms.

§ The Minister for Trade (Mr. Alan Clark)
The services offered by the British Overseas Trade Board provide valuable support for companies' export marketing. About three quarters of those using these services are smaller companies employing fewer than 200 people. The British Overseas Trade Board is currently running a series of conferences on export marketing throughout the United Kingdom, which are designed primarily for smaller companies and those new to exporting.

§ Mr. Bright
I welcome my hon. Friend's answer, but will he take it a step further? Bearing in mind that, in the latter half of this year, we shall hold the presidency of the EEC Commission, is it possible to get to grips with a situation in which many firms have to manufacture to different specifications for each European country? As a business man, I know how difficult it is for a small company to do that. What are the prospects of ironing out that problem?

§ Mr. Clark
My hon. Friend is right. The essence of the internal market, which consists of 330 million consumers, is that there should be free circulation of goods without artificial impediments. The harmonisation of technical standards is one of the most important of those elements.

§ Mr. Meadowcroft
Why does the hon. Gentleman think that tiny companies in Italy—often cottage industries—can manufacture knitwear and other textile products which feed into large units and then into exports, but apparently we cannot cope with such a system here?

§ Mr. Clark
That simply constitutes a different approach to marketing. If British manufacturers do not adopt that approach, there must be very good reasons for it.

§ Mr. Charles Wardle
Is it not a fact that about 6,000 firms in this country with turnovers of between £1 million and £10 million a year do not export? Does my hon. Friend agree that this presents just the right target for the BOTB's attention?

§ Mr. Clark
It is perfectly true that breaking into export markets can be time-consuming and expensive. Many firms may find it more appropriate to wait for customers 688 to come to them, and thus opportunities are lost. The BOTB's initiatives in this respect are extremely valuable. The board holds a number of conferences which are extremely well attended by business men at which it explains what facilities are available.

§ Mr. Evans
Why has there been such little progress in the harmonisation of technical standards in the EEC? Is it not a fact that the Europeans can apparently export goods to this country with impunity, but we cannot export to them?

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. Is the hon. Member on the right question?

§ Mr. Evans
Yes, Mr. Speaker. It is about technical standards.

§ Mr. Speaker
Is it about export marketing of small and medium-sized firms?

§ Mr. Evans
Yes, Sir. The Minister should answer.

§ Mr. Clark
rose—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. Mr. Couchman.

§ Mr. Couchman
My hon. Friend may care to know that a strong team from my borough of Gillingham has just visited Japan. The team included the chief executive, the leader of the council and people from the enterprise agency and the chamber of commerce. They made valuable contacts, but they were struck by the difficulties faced by firms, especially small companies, in penetrating that market. Is there not a case for the Department to set up a regular and consistent counselling service for small companies so that they gain expertise in this regard?

§ Mr. Clark
The British Overseas Trade Board does have such a service. I would very much like my hon. Friend to ask his delegation to communicate with my Department and report on what it found. I am doing my best to build up a picture of the various difficulties and restrictions faced by British exporters to Japan, and the more material that I can have presented the better.

§ Mr. John Smith
Will the Minister now kindly answer the question put to him by my hon. Friend the Member for St. Helens, North (Mr. Evans), which was highly relevant to export marketing and technical standards, which, as the Minister should know, is very much at the heart of our potential export success? If he does not know the answer, will he just say so?

§ Mr. Clark
It is far too early for the right hon. and learned Gentleman to take this ludicrous and pompous line. He knows perfectly well that if Mr. Speker had wished me to answer that I would have done so. I cannot remember whether the hon. Member for St. Helens, North (Mr. Evans) was even in the Chamber when I answered the question initially. I said that the harmonisation of technical standards was the most important single element in the completion of the internal market.

§ Mr. Stokes
In spite of all the help which the Government are at present giving to firms in this country, does my hon. Friend agree that the prime responsibility is for the management of British firms? Firms in my constituency, which export all over the world, do not go to the Government with a begging bowl all the time.

§ Mr. Clark
I congratulate the firms in my hon. Friend's constituency. However, I do not think that we are talking about a begging bowl. We are talking about the 689 difficulties that many small firms experience in starting to export on their own account in the first instance. To help them with that, the BOTB is extremely useful.