§ Mr. Jonathan EvansTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment he has made of the continued appropriateness of his Department's covering of the exchange risks of companies that take European Coal and Steel Community conversion loans in foreign currencies rather than sterling.
§ Mr. SainsburyI have, in conjunction with my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales, thoroughly reviewed the exchange risk guarantee scheme, which is run jointly by my Department, the Scottish Office and the Welsh Office. This review has been based on the findings of independent evaluators who assessed the extent to which the scheme achieved its objectives at an acceptable cost. The evaluators found in the scheme no substantial benefits to set against its cost. The DTI, the Scottish Office and the Welsh Office will therefore cease to offer exchange risk cover on any new global loans made by the Commission to United Kingdom financial intermediaries from today.
Termination of the exchange risk guarantee scheme will not affect the availability of the ECSC conversion loans themselves, nor of the associated interest rate rebates related to job creation. The loans will continue to be available to United Kingdom firms, either in foreign currency at their own exchange risk or in sterling on similar terms. Existing global loans will continue to be eligible for cover to the extent that they are drawn down in foreign currencies.
I have today placed in the Library of the House copies of the independent evaluators' reports on the scheme.