§ Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for Defence why his Department copies, marks-up and circulates to British firms the United States Government's publication "Commerce Business Daily" which they can obtain direct from the United States of America without cost to British taxpayers.
§ Dr. GilbertIt is our policy to encourage British firms to subscribe directly to "Commerce Business Daily" which provides a useful source of information on United States Government procurement activities. We know that at least 30 firms have taken out subscriptions. Nevertheless, we do have a continuing responsibility to draw the attention of firms to a significant entries in the "Commerce Business Daily" as part of the service rendered by the MOD defence sales organisation of assisting industry in its efforts to 533W secure United States defence orders. Important extracts from the publication are therefore circulated to appropriate firms as necessary. The amount of effort and cost involved is very small.