§ Viscount Hinchingbrookeasked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department, how many applications for assistance, financial or otherwise, he has received from exporting firms in each of the years 1938 to 1944.
§ Mr. JohnstoneMy Department does not render financial assistance to exporters. The number of inquiries received by letter, telephone and by personal call runs into very many thousands a year and covers many kinds of assistance. It is not possible to furnish figures, but so that my Noble Friend may know what forms of assistance are normally given to exporters by my Department, I am sending him a copy of the last issue of the Department's Handbook. The services there described are now being reviewed by the Committee of business men on D.O.T. Practice and Procedure, the composition of which I announced on 22nd June, and the future Handbook will be much fuller.