§ Mr. IrvineTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what changes have been made as regards the promotion services available to United Kingdom exporters.
§ Mr. RedwoodMore than 21,000 people involved in exporting now hold DTI service cards. Our market research shows that the services we provide are much appreciated by exporters. The changes we are introducing will help us to provide those services in the ways that are most helpful to exporters by improving the presentation and content of reports and by making it easier to get access to our publications.
The market information inquiry service provides reports from any of the 190 Foreign and Commonwealth Office posts around the world, in response to inquiries from United Kingdom exporters. Charges were introduced for this service for the first time on 1 April 1989. I recognise it is important to present reports in a fully professional way and to ensure that consistently high standards are met by our staff in answering inquiries.
51WThe changes that are being made ensure that the minimum standards of presentation and content are met and that work is carried out within specified periods. This will mean that the business man knows what he is getting when he commissions a report from us. Changes have also been made to the charges for this and other services. Details of the charges that apply from 1 June are set out in the table.
The aim of the changes to the market information inquiry service and the export representative service is to reflect more closely the work involved in answering inquiries. In some cases, for example where an export representative service case for certain countries can be completed with fewer than 24 hours' work, the charge will be less than at present. Some readily available information will be provided free. In other cases fees will increase.
Charges from 1 June £ Market information inquiries (inc VAT) Market information held by post (readily available information may be provided free Up to four hours work 30 Up to four hours work 60 More than four hours and up to eight hours work 120 More than eight hours work 180 Export representatives service (inc VAT) Up to 24 hours work 300 More than 24 hours work 600 New products service (inc VAT) Per article for 15 markets 60 Publications (not subject to VAT) "Hints to Exporters" visitor's guide 5 each Country profiles 10 each Sector reports 30 each For the first time a catalogue of publications available from the Department, including those which attract a charge and those which are available free is being published. This will detail in full all the publications, notably sector reports, available to exporters containing invaluable information about overseas markets.
The export publications catalogue will also list five publications jointly produced by the export promotion organisations of the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy and Belgium. The publications are in a new series called "Setting up in Business In……" which will guide firms in the five countries on the business and legal background to establishing a presence in five markets of the Pacific Rim: Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea. The series will be continued at the end of 1990 with similar booklets on five markets of South America.