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Export Controls
Mr. Batiste: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what the results of the public consultation on strategic export controls were; and when he will announce what action the Government will be taking in response to the consultation. [17297]
Mr. Lang: I am placing copies of the responses received to the consultative document on strategic export controls (Cm 3349), except where confidentiality has been requested in the Libraries of both Houses. I am also placing copies in the library of my Department where members of the public can arrange to see them if they wish.
My Department, in consultation with other Departments, is considering the way forward on strategic export controls, taking account of the responses received to the consultation. Where relevant, the conclusions of the committee established in November to inquire into the controls and procedures relating to arms trafficking, set out in the reply given on 21 January by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary will also be taken into account.
Given the complexity of the subject some further, more detailed consultation with directly interested parties is likely to be needed in developing any proposed changes to strategic export controls. An announcement will be made in due course.
Mr. Milburn:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what monitoring takes place by his Department of the use of external consultants by non-departmental public bodies. [16749]
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Mr. John M. Taylor:
Non-departmental public bodies are established to operate at arm's length from Government, often under specific statutory powers. The NDPB's governing board is responsible for the management and control of the body's functions.
My Department is responsible for monitoring the performance of the NDPBs it sponsors, and for ensuring that they operate within the framework of controls set out in the Treasury and Cabinet Office guidance, "Non-Departmental Public Bodies: A Guide for Departments."
Guidance on best practice on the procurement of external consultants is contained in the efficiency unit scrutiny report, "The Government's Use of External Consultants", which is available to all the Department's NDPBs.
Mr. Fatchett:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list for each of the last five years the number of export licences granted for the sale of water cannons, indicating in each case, the recipient country. [9990]
Mr. Lang
[holding answer 13 January 1997]: Licences identified from computer records as issued for the export of water cannon and equipment incorporating water cannon during the last five years are as follows.
| Year | Number of licences | Destination | Number of water cannon |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 1 | Mauritius | 1 |
| 1 | Venezuela | 40 | |
| 1994 | 1 | Indonesia | 3 |
| 1995 | 2 | Indonesia | 6 |
| 1996 | 1 | Indonesia | 7 |
| 1 | Ghana | 4 |
Computer records cannot always identify individual items on an export licence application if they are part of a larger export package. Further research could be undertaken only at disproportionate cost.
Mid Kent Water
Dr. Howells: To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 22 January, Official Report, column 641, what representations his Department received from parties to the proposed acquisition of Mid Kent Holdings by Companie Generale des Eaux and SAUR Water Services; in what form such representations were made; to whom they were made; and at what stage of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission investigation they were made. [15200]
Mr. John M. Taylor
[holding answer 12 February 1997]: In this case, after the MMC had begun its inquiry into the proposed merger, my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade was required under the provisions of the Water Industry Act 1991 to consider whether it appeared to him that it was or might be the fact that an actual merger had already taken place and hence whether the terms of the reference should be varied. In reaching his decision to vary the reference, which was
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announced on 13 September 1996, my right hon. Friend considered the views of General Utilities, Mid Kent Holdings and SAUR Water Services.
In addition, the Department received various representations about the merger either directly from the companies or attached to correspondence from hon. Members or members of the public. It is not my right hon. Friend's policy to make public further details concerning an individual merger case once the report describing the results of the thorough inquiry conducted by the MMC has been published and my right hon. Friend's decision has been announced.
Dr. Howells:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 30 January, Official Report, column 325, if he will define the exceptional circumstances in which Ministers in his Department receive representations from companies with a direct interest in a Monopolies and Mergers Commission merger report prior to a decision being made on the report; and if any such exceptions have been made during the last 18 months, indicating in which cases and for what reasons. [15199]
Mr. John M. Taylor
[holding answer 12 February 1997]: It is clearly not possible to define in advance exceptional circumstances. However, very occasionally, one of the parties to a merger may, for example, inform the Department of a significant change of circumstances in the market under examination that has occurred after the MMC has reported and Ministers would not be able properly to reach a decision without taking that new information into account.
It is not my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade's policy to make public further details concerning an individual merger case once the report describing the results of the thorough inquiry conducted by the MMC has been published and my right hon. Friend's decision has been announced.
Mr. Madden:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many times over the last three years, he has addressed the Millennium Club in his official capacity; and if he will list the names of those present and the companies they represented on each occasion; and if he will make a statement. [15695]
Mr. Lang
[holding answer 13 February 1997]: I have not addressed the Millennium Club in my official capacity.
Mr. Wilson:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on his intervention with the Russian Deputy Prime Minister on behalf of Mr. Alan Lewis during the period when civil proceedings in the Russian courts were in progress. [15662]
Mr. Lang
[holding answer 13 February 1997]: I wrote to Russian Deputy Prime Ministers Bolshakov and Kazakov on 28 June 1996 following up a meeting of the UK--Russia Steering Committee on Trade and Investment which I had co-chaired with Mr. Bolshakov the previous month. The letter addressed the uncertainties that investors
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faced in Russia and our shared aim to create there an attractive investment climate, and referred to Illingworth Morris as an example.
I also wrote to Mr. Bolshakov on 4 December 1996 concerning negotiations involving other companies. Correspondence of this type is normally regarded as commercially confidential.
Throughout, all correspondence and contact with the Russian Government were based wholly on the advice of officials in my Department and at the British Embassy in Moscow. Neither I nor any other Minister or official corresponded with the Chief Justice of the Russian High Arbitration court over this case.
Mr. Wilson:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the occasions on which he has met Mr. Alan Lewis in an official capacity; and what subjects were discussed on each occasion. [15663]
Mr. Lang
[holding answer 13 February 1997]: In my official capacity as President of the Board of Trade I have met Mr. Lewis once. We discussed his company's business interests.
Mr. Madden:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what factors led him to write to the Russian Deputy Prime Minister on behalf of Illingworth Morris about negotiations in which the company was involved in Russia; if he will place copies of the relevant correspondence in the Library; in what other cases he has written to Russian Ministers concerning individual company negotiations in Russia; and if he will make a statement. [15697]
Mr. Lang
[holding answer 13 February 1997]: I wrote to Russian Deputy Prime Ministers Bolshakov and Kazakov on 28 June 1996 following up a meeting of the UK-Russia Steering Committee on Trade and Investment which I had co-chaired with Mr. Bolshakov the previous month. The letter addressed the uncertainties that investors faced in Russia and our shared aim to create there an attractive investment climate, and referred to Illingworth Morris as an example.
I also wrote to Mr. Bolshakov on 4 December 1996 concerning negotiations involving other companies.
Correspondence of this type is normally regarded as commercially confidential.
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