§ Baroness Smith of Gilmorehillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether there will be an increase in the number of businessmen on short-term attachments at posts overseas.
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanWe made a commitment in our Business Manifesto to improve the focus of our efforts to back British business selling abroad, to enhance the co-ordination of government 181WA trade and investment promotion, and to promote business secondments with this department.
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs was pleased to announce that we have secured a commitment from a number of leading companies to lend members of their staff to this department to work on specific promotions or projects overseas for periods of a few months. These people will provide valuable expertise to support and promote the activities of the commercial sections of our overseas posts. Each attachment will have a specific focus, such as privatisation projects, inward investment promotion, management of commercial promotions, marketing of UK financial services, or identifying market opportunities in specific sectors.
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs welcomed the wholehearted support for this initiative of the CBI. They have encouraged a number of their members to participate from the outset, including British Airways, BOC, ICL, Wimpey, British Aerospace, BT, British Steel, BNFL, BUPA, HSBC and Glaxo Wellcome. Other companies have expressed a strong interest, and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is confident that more attachments will be arranged in the coming months.
This is a commitment to a rolling programme of attachments to strengthen our partnership with business. In the longer term we hope that companies will be able to second suitable staff to serve as part of the established commercial teams in overseas posts, and in return provide opportunities for this department's staff to hone their business skills by hosting secondments.