§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for 'Trade and Industry what steps he has taken within the specific powers and responsibilities of his office to assist civil service employees that have been or will be affected by the sale of the Insurance Services Group of the Export Credits Guarantee Department.
§ Mr. SainsburyOver 500 of ECGD employees have volunteered to transfer to the privatised new company which will take over the business of the Insurance Services Group. The decisions on who will be offered jobs in the new company and who will remain in ECGD will take account as far as possible of the preferences expressed by the employees. If there should be a surplus of people remaining in ECGD after all the transfers have taken place, every effort will be made to find them other jobs in the civil service. The appropriate unit of Her Majesty's Treasury has been alerted accordingly.