§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what proportion of small firms have made efforts to prepare for the introduction of the European Single Currency; what recent assessment she had made of the adequacy of training within small firms. [48055]
§ Mrs. Roche[holding answer 1 July 1998]: A recent survey of small and medium sized enterprises, commissioned by the Treasury's Euro Preparations Unit, found that only 5 per cent. of such companies had made any preparations for the euro. I do not have any specific data on the level of training on the euro within small firms. However, of the preparations that had been made, most were technical (changes to IT systems or opening euro accounts).
The Government are committed to offer information to firms to increase their awareness of the implications of the single currency and to help firms to prepare. The Euro Preparations Unit in the Treasury has recently published the first ten in a series of fact sheets on the euro. Copies can be obtained from the dedicated euro telephone literature line 08456 01 01 99, or from the website http://www.euro.gov.uk.