HC Deb 21 May 1984 vol 60 cc309-10W
Mr. Stuart Holland

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on how many occasions (a) BICC, (b) GEC and (c) Trafalgar House or their subsidiaries benefited directly from contractual arrangements made under the aid and trade provision in each year since 1979.

Mr. Raison

The firms named and their subsidiaries have benefited from the following numbers of contracts gained with the support of funds provided from the aid and trade provisions:

1979 1980 1981 1982 1983
(a) BICC 0 4 2 3 4
(b) GEC 1 2 1 0 1
(c) Trafalgar House 0 0 0 0 0

In many cases the company has been the lead British company involved in the project and many other British firms have benefited from the contracts as subcontractors.

Mr. Stuart Holland

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of the total number of aid and trade provision contracts have been taken up by (a) BICC, (b) GEC and (c) Trafalgar House or their subsidiaries in each year since 1979.

Mr. Raison

The total number of contracts gained with the support of ATP funds since 1979 were:

Number
1979 10
1980 14
1981 7
1982 13
1983 19

The percentages of these gained by the three firms named and their subsidiaries—allowing for rounding were:

Percentage
1979 1980 1981 1982 1983
(a) BICC 0 29 29 23 21
(b) GEC 10 14 14 0 5
(c) Trafalgar House 0 0 0 0 0

Because in many cases the company has been the lead British company involved in the project, and many other British firms have benefited from the contracts as subcontractors, the above figures overstate the direct benefit gained by the companies named.

Mr. Stuart Holland

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on how many occasions in 1983 Overseas Development Agency officials met representatives of (a) BICC, (b) GEC and (c) Trafalgar House or their subsidiaries to discuss the application or the potential application of aid and trade provision funds.

Mr. Raison

ODA's officials have frequent contact with representatives of British firms concerned with projects funded, or being considered for funding, under regular bilateral and programme arrangements or supported, or being considered for support, from the aid and trade provisions. No record is kept of the number of such meetings.