Export Intelligence Service (Hansard, 26 July 1989)

§ The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Trefgarne)
My Lords, export intelligence continues to be a service provided to exporters by my department. However, in order to enhance the delivery, presentation and marketing of the information, a contract has been placed with a private sector company to carry out these functions on our behalf.

The Viscount of Oxfuird
My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for that reply. I am sure every Member of this House would wish to join me 1435 in congratulating him on his new appointment. Is he in a position to tell the House how the very considerable increase in costs in the EIS can be justified, particularly in terms of the quality of service to trade associations, chambers of commerce and individual customers?

Lord Tregarne
My Lords, there is a limit to the extent to which the taxpayer can be asked to subsidise these matters. Furthermore, the old system was very inefficient. It relied heavily upon the post to deliver this information in a timely way. I am afraid it did not always achieve that result. As the new arrangements use, in addition to the post, electronic methods of delivery, they will be much more tailored to the needs of exporters. I am certain they will provide exporters with better value for money, even having regard to the extra costs involved.

§ Lord Williams of Elvel
My Lords, may I associate these Benches with the congratulations offered by the noble Viscount on the noble Lord's appointment as Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry? Is he aware that he is the third DTI Minister I have had the honour of addressing from this Dispatch Box? They seem somehow to vanish like snow in the spring sunshine. I wish the noble Lord a happy and prolonged tenure of office, at least for as long as the Government are in power. On the substance of the Question of the noble Viscount, will the noble Lord tell us whether he sees any connection between the privatisation of the Export Intelligence Service and the fact that our exports in volume terms, as announced today by his department, have remained flat over the past year?

§ Lord Trefgarne
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his kind remarks, as I thank my noble friend also. As I said in the original Answer, we are not privatising the service but are just placing into commercial hands the delivery of the information. Collection of the information will remain in the hands, primarily, of the Foreign Office. Collation occurs in the Department of Trade and Industry. The service has only been going in its new form since the beginning of June. I am sure the noble Lord will agree that it is a little early to draw conclusions about its success.

Lord Morris
My Lords, does not my noble friend agree that the majority of representatives of industry would welcome this move in so far as it delivers this service from the contraints of having to be evenhanded with regard to the information? It could evaluate on the merits of a case which company has the best approach in order to export goods for the benefit of the country as a whole.

§ Lord Trefgarne
My Lords, I am quite certain that my noble friend is right. The original service did not fully meet the needs of exporters. The Gazette, which was published on a daily basis, had reduced in circulation to less than 200. I cannot think that that was what exporters needed.

§ Lord Taylor of Gryfe
My Lords, in view of the need for continued assurance to industrial exporters who are mentioned in the Question, will the Minister assure us that in response to the Kemp Report, there will be an early reply on the continuity of export credit facilities, which are part of the services offered?.

§ Lord Trefgarne
My Lords, I hope the noble Lord will forgive me if I say that that is a different question. However, if I may transgress the procedures of the House, I should say that I am aware of the matter the noble Lord has referred to. We shall certainly be replying to that matter as soon as we can.

The Earl of Halsbury
My Lords, can the noble Lord tell us what was wrong with the system as it was in my day? If I wanted to go abroad on business, I got a letter of introduction from the Board of Trade, as it then was, to our commercial counsellor at the embassy where I was going—there were no administration costs—who laid everything on for me.

§ Lord Trefgarne
My Lords, I think this is a slightly different service to the one the noble Earl used to take advantage of. This service provides information to potential exporters about commercial opportunities in the countries concerned. This information now has to be delivered on a very timely and effective basis if exporters are to have a chance to take advantage of it.

§ Lord Peston
My Lords, without wishing to throw any cold water on all of this, will the noble Lord tell us whether his department has undertaken any studies of the effectiveness of this service, and in particular in relation to the Question of the noble Viscount, whether the department is proposing to monitor the service in its new form to see whether it does any good at all?

§ Lord Trefgarne
My Lords, I am sure the service does a great deal of good, particularly if the information is delivered effectively and in a timely fashion. The performance of our exporters generally has been very good in recent years. We are, of course, competing in a world where everyone else is trying very hard as well, and we shall have to ensure that we do even better. That is now one of my responsibilities.

§ Lord Williams of Elvel
My Lords, the Minister said he was sure the service did a great deal of good. My noble friend asked him how he was sure the service was effective. Has there been any research on this subject?

§ Lord Trefgarne
My Lords, the proof of this pudding is in the eating. I have just been appointed the Minister responsible for these matters. I apologise for the fact that I have only been in office 24 hours, and I shall try and do better at once.

The Viscount of Oxfuird
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that the quality of the service depends 1437 on the accuracy of the information received from government posts overseas? It is of little help to receive an inquiry for a wheelbarrow when one happens to be making 40 tonne forklift trucks. Can an improvement be made in the initial quality of the information coming from overseas posts and can that be assured under the new system?

§ Lord Trefgarne
My Lords, it is intended to make some changes to the collation of information. At the moment that is done entirely by means of code matching—that is, matching the requirement to the Customs designation of the product concerned. Now we tend to add key word searching, as it is known in the vernacular, to the system to produce this information. I hope that that will further add to its benefit.