§ Mr. SwinneyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will list the outward missions organised by her Department in 1996–97 and the companies involved in each. [36187]
§ Mrs. Roche[holding answer 26 March 1998]: A list of missions organised and supported under the Department's Outward Mission Scheme in 1996–97 together with the
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Name Initial cost (£) Final cost (£) Scheduled date Actual date DTI HQ ECLIPS 2,900,000 3,000,000 June 1993 March 1995 IDIS 5,540,000 6,921,000 December 1993 December 1994 Birds 298,000 238,000 December 1993 December 1993 Marquis 336,000 289,000 January 1994 April 1994 Insurance EC directives 965,000 949,000 January 1996 January 1996 CWC 1,300,000 900,000 May 1996 December 1996 Osprey 23,100,000 24,170,000 September 1996 March 1997 Paris 1,100,000 n/a February 1997 ongoing RPS 1,900,000 1,900,000 June 1997 October 1997 Insurance deregulation 2,012,000 1,671,000 September 1997 September 1997 Indigo 4,900,000 n/a March 1998 n/a Mandrin 1,700,000 n/a September 1998 n/a ECO 790,000 n/a September 1998 n/a INSS BANCS 1,294,000 3,400,000 March 1992 January 1994 LOLA 2,443,000 2,749,000 April 1996 April 1996 ETS ETS upgrade project 950,000 n/a July 1998 — Non-Departmental Bodies VKAEA SMART 190,000 200,000 March 1996 March 1996 FIS 400,000 370,000 June 1997 July 1997 name and telephone number of the organiser will be placed in the Library of the House. Over 4,700 companies took part in 219 missions. The organisers can be contacted for details of the companies participating.
The Outward Mission Scheme is primarily aimed at providing practical and financial support to small to medium sized UK companies relatively new to the markets concerned to travel overseas as part of a group to promote UK exports of goods and services. Ministerial delegations and delegations led by senior officials are sometimes organised outside the scheme by the Department and other Government Departments where the nature of the event and status/experience of the companies would make financial support inappropriate. Details of ministerial missions organised by the Department since May 1997 were provided on 23 February 1998, Official Report, columns 106–07, in response to a question tabled by the hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs. Gillan).