§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what were the costs of defence related business for(a) Trade Partners UK and (b) the Trade Fair Support Scheme in the last 12 months. [140704]
§ Mr. CabornI have been asked to reply.
The Defence Export Services Organisation of the MOD is responsible for defence exports. In certain circumstances, Trade Partners UK staff both in London and at Missions overseas may work in support of major defence contracts including those where indirect offset (sometimes called economic offset) is part of the overall package.
646WIn addition, Trade Partners UK schemes including the Support for Exhibitions and Seminars Abroad (SESA) scheme, which replaced the Trade Fair Support scheme, are available to British companies in all sectors. The cost of support to overseas exhibition and seminar participants in the Fire, Police, Security Industries and Equipment sector (within which data for defence related business are grouped) for 1999–2000 was £317,000. A further £44,000 was spent on supporting Inward Missions within the same overall sector. It is not possible, without incurring disproportionate cost, to identify within these sums the cost of support to defence related business alone, or the overall cost of staff time on defence related work.
The cost of support to Outward Missions with a defence element in 1999–2000 was £14,500.