§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what are the current rules relating to financial assistance for United Kingdom firms engaged in export promotion.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe Department of Trade and Industry, together with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, provide a wide range of services to exporters, some of which involve payment of grants. Grant schemes are available to United Kingdom firms involved in exporting for the benefit of the country; access to them is generally limited to a maximum number of times; one scheme is limited specifically to smaller firms.
§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the amounts of money allocated to support of United Kingdom firms engaged in export promotion for each of the last five years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. NeedhamGross expenditure, including staff costs, on the provision of support to United Kingdom exporters by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office together has been:
483W
£ million 1991–92 173.4 1990–91 163.5 1989–90 138.4
£ million 1988–89 130.5 1987–88 106.2 Details of the expenditure are given in the annual reports of the British Overseas Trade Board, copies of which are available in the Library. The figures for 1989–90 and earlier do not include overheads of Department of Trade and Industry headquarters staff and the costs of the export offices in territorial departments, estimated at some £20 million.
§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what discussions he has had with his EC counterparts on the question of increased financial support for EC firms engaged in export promotion.
§ Mr. NeedhamMy Department has regular discussions with its counterparts in other EC countries on the kind and level of support available to our respective exporters. Such discussions cover a wide range of topics, not confined to the level of financial support.
§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans he has to increase the amount of resources available for export promotion.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe Government devote a substantial and increasing amount of resource to helping United Kingdom companies to succeed in overseas markets. The initiative announced recently by my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade to recruit 100 secondees from industry will add substantially to our export promotion effort.
§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans be has to relax the conditions currently applied to funds for export promotion.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe conditions applying to the provision of financial support to exporters are kept under constant review by, for example, surveys of users; changes are introduced as and when appropriate.