§ Mr. DenhamTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make it his policy to support the proposal of the European Commission to establish a special fund to alleviate the problems that will be faced by employees of customs brokers following the completion of the European single market on 1 January 1993.
§ Mr. Sainsbury[holding answer 5 November 1992]: The Government have serious reservations about the Commission's proposals. It would appear to duplicate assistance available from the EC structural funds: particularly under the cross-border Community initiative INTERREG—in Kent and Northern Ireland—and from January 1993, when assistance under objective 3 of the structural funds will be made available to all redundant customs agents, from the European social fund.