§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the average annual salary paid to his Department's export promoters; and if he will make a statement. [34956]
§ Mr. NelsonCompanies are asked to bear the full pay roll costs of seconding senior executives, typically for two years. The Department has negotiated a pay roll contribution in some cases where smaller companies cannot bear the full cost of loss of a person and the salary or for geographical markets in which there are fewer experienced executives available. The Department's current average pay roll contribution per export promoter is £19,500, which is considerably less than the average cost to companies of secondment.
We have now successfully completed the first two and a half years of the initiative. This partnership between Government and the private sector is helping British business to win in overseas markets. We have recruited 124 export promoters so far and have assurances from a number of companies that they are identifying high-calibre people to put forward in order to maintain the numbers at 100 in post.