ECGD (Hansard, 13 June 2000)

§ Mr. Gibb
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he will publish the results of his review of the Export Credit Guarantees Department. [125586]

§ Mr. Caborn
The review of ECGD's Mission and Status, which was announced last July, is nearing completion. The public consultation exercise and a number of independent studies into certain aspects of ECGD's operations have provided valuable evidence. These inputs will enable Ministers to determine the right way forward for ECGD, and I expect an announcement of the outcome of the Review to be made in the House shortly.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which Department is responsible for commenting on the human rights aspects of applications for ECGD support in the case of(a) those countries qualifying for overseas development assistance and (b) those countries which do not qualify for such assistance. [125202]

§ Mr. Caborn
Responsibility for assessing all the risks and issues connected with applications for ECGD support lies with ECGD. For countries which are only eligible for highly concessional International Development Association (IDA) loans from the World Bank, we would seek the views of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development as part of ECGD's procedure for assessing whether Productive Expenditure criteria have been met. Applications for ECGD support in countries which are not eligible for IDA only loans would be referred to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for advice on human rights where ECGD has concerns about the issue.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which Department had responsibility for scrutinising the human rights aspects of the request for ECGD assistance for the Ilisu dam project; and what comments were made. [125203]

§ Mr. Caborn
Responsibility for assessing the risks and issues connected with the application for ECGD support lies with ECGD. However, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) provided advice to ECGD which was reflected in the statement made regarding the project on 21 December by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. ECGD is in regular contact with FCO regarding this project.