§ Mr. ChaytorTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department has spent in each of the last five years in supporting British Nuclear Fuels plc's efforts to secure foreign contracts (i) in total and (ii) for the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel in the United Kingdom. [86966]
§ Mr. HoonMy Department, working with the DTI as British Trade International, provides wide-ranging, non-discriminatory support for all British companies, provided their products and services are mainly of UK origin and are legal. That support ranges from tailored market information to high-level political lobbying and multilateral work to liberalise markets.
British Nuclear Fuels plc has, like other British exporters, benefited from Government export support. The international market within which it operates is framed by inter-governmental nuclear co-operation agreements covering the export of nuclear materials and contracts for the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel in the United Kingdom. No charge is made for the work necessary to conclude these. Records of this work and other support are not collated centrally and cannot be quantified in the way requested.