§ Mr. David ShawTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the achievements of his Department and his policies in helping small businesses over the last 12 months compared with the previous 12 months; and if he will publish the performance indicators by which his Department monitors those achievements and the statistical results of such monitoring.
§ Mr. MellorOrders are placed with small businesses which are able to satisfy the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's value for money requirements. The value of such procurement in the last two years was:
£ million 1986–87 6.695 1987–88 15.063 One third of Foreign and Commonwealth procurement is from the central agencies. No data are available on how much of this business is with small firms.
In the financial year 1987–88 diplomatic service posts assisted an estimated 75,300 British business visitors and handled over 65,000 market information inquiries—final figures are expected to be available shortly—compared with 76,942 and 65,473 respectively in 1986. Separate figures for assistance given to small businesses are not recorded but such help represents a significant proportion of the assistance given.