§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what assistance his Department will provide to British companies to participate in the Pollutec 93 exhibition in Paris in October.
§ Mr. NeedhamUnfortunately, my Department received no bid for this exhibition in its priorities exercise for the relevant programme year. Therefore, no offer of support could be made under the trade fairs support scheme.
Subsequently, an approach was made to overseas promotions support branch by the Birmingham chamber of industry and commerce asking it to support the event. However, by then the provision for the scheme was fully committed making it impossible to offer assistance.
Naturally, if funds become available at a later date my Department will review the position.