§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their attention has been called to the recent remarks of the chairman at the annual general meeting of Messrs. Hawker Siddeley and whether they think that sufficiently generous terms of credit are available for the export of British capital goods.]
LORD ST. OSWALDMy Lords, Her Majesty's Government are aware of the chairman's comments. In their view, British exporters of capital goods are at no general competitive disadvantage in the credit terms they are able to offer with the support of facilities available under the Export Guarantees Acts. Where that is not so, particular cases can be considered on their merits in the light of other demands on our resources.
LORD HAWKEMy Lords, I thank my noble friend for his Answer. Her Majesty's Government are doubtless aware that there are in the world many potential consumers of British capital goods who can afford to pay for those goods only out of the current revenue that they can produce from them. Cannot Her Majesty's Government produce some scheme for "pay-as-you-use" to meet this demand and enable this export trade to take place?
LORD ST. OSWALDMy Lords, such facilities do in fact exist under Section 3 of the Export Guarantees Act. Under these powers, since the Montreal Commonwealth Conference in 1958 credits totalling over £60 million on repayment terms extending beyond five years have 68 been provided by Her Majesty's Government to various countries for expenditure on British goods and services. They have up to now been restricted to Commonwealth countries, but there is no permanent reason why this should remain so.
LORD HAWKEMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his further answer to my supplementary question, and I am glad to hear that there is a chance that this scheme can extend beyond Commonwealth countries where the principal demand does lie.