§ Mr.Higginsasked the Secretary of State for Trade whether hotel companies which support an application for a Queen's Award to Industry with evidence of increased receipts from overseas visitors have an equal chance of receiving a Queen's Award as a manufacturing company of equivalent size with a similar record of growth in exports.
§ Mr.MeacherYes. Any hotel company which may apply will receive no less favourable treatment than a comparable manufacturing company. Awards are not granted solely on the basis of statistics of increased exports. Qualitative aspects of an applicant's performance, such as any special features concerning the "exportabilty" of the products or services, are taken into account and full weight is given to the interests of those 209W units which are already achieving an outstanding and sustained level of export success.
§ Mr.Higginsasked the Secretary of State for Trade how many Queen's Awards to Industry have been made to companies in the service industries; what this figure is as a percentage of total awards; and what the ratio of awards to applications is; (a) for companies in the service industries and (b) overall.
§ Mr.MeacherExporters of services became eligible for The Queen's Award in 1971. A total of 99 Awards have since been granted to firms which applied wholly or mainly in respect of earnings from the provision of services to nonresidents of the United Kingdom, representing 15 per cent. of the total number of awards on grounds of export achievement. The ratios are: (a)1:11; (b) 1:13.
For the year 1978 similar figures are: 20; 19 per cent.; 1:10; 1:15.