§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether there is any independent body to which complaints can be made about the conduct of the bodies recognised as RSBs under the Companies Act 1989.
98Wcould be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, there have been more than 10,000 type approvals for new products since privatisation and applications to the British Approvals Board for Telecommunications are now running at 1,300 a year.
The continuing enhancement of the communications infrastructure in a liberalised, dynamic and highly competitive market and the industry's commitment to innovation have resulted in the introduction of new products and services at a rate comparable with that in the United States of America and Japan. The United Kingdom's world lead in the development of personal communication networks following the success of cellular mobile telephony is but one example. The United Kingdom has also developed a large number of new value-added services, pagers, message devices, new styles of telephone and switches.
The Government recognise innovation and involvement in the development of standards as being vital to this process. They will continue to encourage and support United Kingdom industry participation in European and national collaborative research programmes such as RACE, where the United Kingdom currently participates in 84 per cent. of the projects, LINK and EUREKA, and in the European Telecommunications Standards Institute where United Kingdom companies and organisations have the highest membership.