§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make it his policy, in association with representatives of British manufacturing industry, to seek to establish a task force on import substitution in order to identify areas in which such substitution is feasible.
§ Mr. Sainsbury[holding answer 9 March 1993]: Government activities which seek to discriminate in favour of United Kingdom producers against exporters from other Community member states are precluded by the treaty of Rome. Nevertheless, my Department is continually working to assist United Kingdom firms to exploit market opportunities at home and abroad. The recent fall in the value of the pound against the currency of our major competitors provides plenty of scope for United Kingdom businesses to gain a larger share of the domestic market.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement providing details of those initiatives which have been taken by his Department in order to identify areas in which import substitution is a feasible option; if he will list the categories of goods which have so far been identified by those initiatives; and what action he has taken to draw each area of potential import substitution to the attention of British manufacturers.
§ Mr. Sainsbury[holding answer 9 March 1993]: My Department is continually working to assist United Kingdom firms to identify market opportunities both at home and abroad. In particular, the new DTI sector divisions work closely with their industries to help business take advantage of the opportunities created by the recent fall in the value of sterling. Her Majesty's Customs and Excise provides the names and addresses of United Kingdom importers for each classification of imported goods through appointed marketing agents.