§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assistance has been given to the textile and clothing industry since 1997; what measures are in place to help the textile and clothing industry develop faster152W and more environmentally-friendly techniques; and what proposals her Department has to support the exports of the textiles and clothing industry's products. [70128]
§ Stephen TimmsThe Government has provided almost£83 million of financial assistance to the UK textiles and clothing industry since May 1997, devoted to capital investment, innovation, exports, design and marketing, e-commerce, supply chain management, technical textiles and training and development. A key element of this assistance has been support for a Textiles and Clothing Industry Forum Adaptation programme, designed to improve the speed, efficiency and quality of the UK textile and clothing supply chain.
The UK textiles and clothing industry has already capitalised on the DTI's BIO-WISE programme which encourages companies to exploit the environmental benefits of biotechnology and also the Envirowise programme which provides practical environmental advice to businesses, focusing on resource efficiency and clean technology measures. In collaboration with CBWT, (the Confederation of British Wool Textiles), DTI is supporting a project to predict the effect of textile chemicals on the aquatic environment aimed at reducing effluent emissions at source.
Textile and clothing companies are eligible for the full range of export advice and assistance from Trade Partners UK, including assistance under the Support for Exhibitions and Seminars Abroad (SESA) scheme. This scheme helps them attend and exhibit at key overseas trade fairs and exhibitions. The value of support for clothing and textiles events under the SESA scheme in 2001–02 was £3,740,732.