§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he plans to implement the recommendations of the committee chaired by Sir Peter Matthews on the Exports Credits Guarantee Department.
§ Mr. ChannonI am still considering the Committee's recommendations. A decision will be announced as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what has been the total wage bill of the Export Credits Guarantee Department in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. ChannonThe total wage and salary bill, including superannuation costs, of ECGD for each of the last five financial years was as follows:
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£ millions 1979–80 13.5 1980–81 16.9 1981–82 17.2 1982–83 18.0 1983–84 19.4 The figure for 1983–84 is provisional.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what has been the total number of employees working for the Export Credits Guarantee Department in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. ChannonThe total number of employees of ECGD at the end of March each year was as follows:
Number 1975 1,812 1976 1,915 1977 1,964 1978 2,014 1979 2,019 1980 1,989 1981 1,892 1982 1,810 1983 1,814 1984 1,817
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what has been the total number of employees working at each of the nine regional offices of the Export Credits Guarantee Department in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. ChannonThe number of staff in post in each ECGD regional office is as follows. In this table part-time staff are counted as half. Between March 1981 and March 1982 the activities of the north London office were transferred to Cambridge, City of London and Croydon offices and it was then closed.
Regional Office March 1984 March 1983 March 1982 March 1981 Sept. 1980 Belfast 6½ 6½ 6½ 6½ 7 Birmingham 49½ 50 49 49 53 Bristol 29 30 30 31 31 Cambridge 48 50 49 44 30 City of London 68 77 81 60 61 Croydon 69½ 68½ 68 54 53 Glasgow 23 24 24 24 24½ Leeds 41 46 48 48 49 Manchester 46 45 44 48 50 North London — — — 40 40 Total 380½ 397 399½ 404½ 408½
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is the total number of firms which have taken out cover under the export credits guarantee scheme in each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. ChannonAt the end of March 1984, 10,214 companies held ECGD comprehensive guarantees; a number of them held more than one policy.
The corresponding numbers for previous years were:
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Number 1975 *over 10,000 1976 *over 10,000 1977 *over 10,000 1978 11,700 1979 12,318 1980 12,275 1981 11,791 1982 11,149 1983 10,582 * Precise numbers not available. In addition some further companies held specific guarantees for individual contracts but the total number of these at any one time is not readily available.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) agricultural machinery, (b) pharmaceutical and (c) textile exporting firms have taken out cover under the export credits guarantees scheme in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. ChannonFigures are available for the end of the last three calendar years only. On those dates the number of ECGD comprehensive guarantees held in each category quoted was:
(31 December) 1981 1982 1983 Agricultural machinery and equipment 1,431 2,017 1,939 Pharmaceuticals (medicaments) 126 128 131 Textiles 1,360 1,156 1,191 Some companies held more than one guarantee.