Examination of Witnesses (Questions 200
- 209)
TUESDAY 6 JUNE 2000
SIR DAVID
WRIGHT, MRS
BARBARA PHILLIPS,
MR DAVID
HALL AND
MR DAVID
WARREN
200. On partnerships, such as the Indo-British
partnership initiative, the other day I enjoyed a very good party
at the Langham Hilton, sponsored by Ashurst Morris Crisp and the
Virgin airline, where the ballroom was absolutely full of business
people from India and the UK. The purpose of the party was to
thank Frank Hunt who was retiring as co-ordinator of the Indo-British
partnership initiative. I do not believe that they were just there
for the Virgin sponsored champagne. Is the Indo-British partnership
initiative unique or do we have that sort of partnership with
other countries? It seems to work extremely well. The business
community here and the business community in the country concerned
work in partnership over a long period of time. In terms of some
of the difficulties that you have had with your exit strategies
from some of these markets, it may help if you are then able to
pass on that responsibility to the private sector, saying, "If
you value this market, we have been here for some time so you
must be able to set up a partnership of the model we see in relations
with India". For example, one could be set up with the Turkish
CBI and the CBI here. I believe that the Indian arrangement has
worked extremely well.
(Sir David Wright) It is a unique arrangement. If
my memory is correct, it was set up by the then Prime Ministers
of the two countries in 1994, I think.[5]
It has served the unique purpose of generating interest among
British companies in the potential of the India market where we
have nearly 6 per cent of the market share. We have also built
on it a new trade development scheme, called Enterprise Initiative
India, which is designed to introduce more SMEs to the Indian
market. I agree with you that it is a formula that one may consider
in terms of an exit strategy. On the other hand, we may well conclude,
particularly in relation to India, when we assess the situation
in due course, that the potential of the market is so great that
it should remain an important focus for our activity.
201. I was not suggesting for one moment that
you should exit from India. I wanted to explore whether that is
a model on which other markets, such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and
others, can establish just that sort of partnership, where you
have the private sector in both countries working together. For
example, Saudi Arabia will open up to foreign investment and there
will be great potential for UK companies because they are somewhat
suspicious of too much United States investment. Is there not
an opportunity there to do something in the Gulf and the Middle
East as it has worked so well in India?
(Sir David Wright) There is a great deal that can
be done in an area where we want to see more private sector involvement
in conjunction with our Government. We do that to some extent
already through business councils. One can identify a number of
effective business councils which represent partnerships between
the two sides. Egypt comes to mind. There is an Israel-Britain
council and there is a very effective business council with Singapore.
Similarly, last week the representative of the UK-Philippines
business council was here. I believe that we also have one with
Thailand. There are good examples of where we have partially mirrored
the Indian situation, but we do not have one with quite such a
high level of focus as the prime ministerial launch given to that
council.
Mr Rowlands
202. On targeting Turkey, how many commercial
posts do we have in Turkey at present and how does that compare
with our European partners?
(Sir David Wright) I would need notice
of the question in relation to the comparison with our European
partners. At the moment we have two in Turkey: the embassy in
Ankara and the consulate general in Istanbul.[6]
203. How many people in post do you have?
(Sir David Wright) In post we have eight
people Ankara and 12 in Istanbul who deal with commercial work.
204. It would be interesting to compare that
with the position of our major rivals in terms of their staffing
of such posts.
(Sir David Wright) I do not have that information
available, but I can certainly secure it and send it to the Chairman.
205. Presumably any consideration of increasing
staffing levels in those posts would be part and parcel of any
such targeting?
(Sir David Wright) In so far as I have indicated the
extent to which our resources concentrate on both programme and
running costs in the UK in relation to those target markets, you
can take it that in assessing the Foreign Office resources in
those posts the designation as a target market has an immediate
effect, provided the resources are available to the Foreign Office
staff there.
206. We have chosen Turkey as a target market.
It would be interesting to see how it is going to be profiled.
Can you give us the resource that you intend to put in?
(Sir David Wright) I could research the information
about the comparators, the competitors and any information that
I can give the Committee about the way in which the staffing has
moved in Turkey in relation to its designation, if that would
be useful.[7]
Chairman: Yes, that would be useful, especially
as we are to visit Turkey.
Sir John Stanley
207. Have you considered a more radical approach
to recruitment for your export promotion posts in embassies and
high commissions overseas? Everything that you have said to us
this morning suggests a somewhat inbred organisation. You have
referred to a certain amount of reshuffling of the pack between
the DTI officials and FCO officials. We have an opportunity to
be much more radical in this area. I wondered whether you had
given any thought to going towards a policy of open recruitment
for export promotion posts overseas. There must be a huge wealth
of people with hands-on export selling experience, and export
promotion experience in the country at large. Have you given any
thought to having a policy of open recruitment with recruitment
on non-Civil Service terms, possibly on two or three-year fixed
term contracts in particular locations if the right individual
were available? That may enable you to get more value for money,
given the amount of expenditure.
(Sir David Wright) Yes, I can confirm that that is
an objective. I can give you two examples of open competition
that have taken place recently. The job of consular general in
New York, which is the largest trade promotion job that we have,
was advertised. An open competition was held for that job. However,
the current incumbent is from the Diplomatic Service. That is
not to say that he was the first choice. Someone from the private
sector was selected, but in the end that person decided that they
did not want the job. That was one case. We have also had competitions
for three jobs in Toronto, Mumbai and Sao Paulo. The person who
won the competition for Toronto is from the private sector and
his terms are being negotiated in the style to which you have
just referred in terms of a fixed term contract. We have also
got three private sector secondees in other posts; one is in Osaka
in Japan from the private sector, also the First Secretary Commercial
in Ankara is from the private sector. We are trying very much
to increase this side of our activity and Mrs Phillips here has
recently recruited the nine international trade directors for
our English regions, and of those nine six are from the private
sector,[8]
and again those were recruited on the basis of open competition.
We also have the other two elements of private sector engagement
in our work.[9]
One is the export promoter scheme, with which you will be very
familiar, and over 111 export promoters from the private sector
are working for us.[10]
Then, of course, locally-engaged staff in our posts overseas are
by definition non-civil servants. Particularly in very sophisticated
markets like the United States and Canada, where I was recently,
which is why it is in my mind, we see the opportunities to bring
in senior locally-engaged staff on short-term contracts who are
able to bring to the work of the Consulate General considerable
expertise in particular sectors, and that is true at the moment
of what we will call the dot-com sector. The same is true in the
regions of Britain. The people who are in the international trade
teams in Business Links are private sector recruits who have had
a lot of experience in exporting. But I do not give you that reply
glibly or complacently. I share very strongly your view that to
make this rather unusual hybrid operation work and reflect the
interests of the customers and be business-focused, we have constantly
to find ways of increasing this area of recruitment.
Mr Baldry
208. Michael Heseltine recruited a large number
of export promoters from the private sector. What happened to
them?
(Sir David Wright) Some of them may still be with
us. The number is still with us, the scheme is still with us,
and the general appreciation and recognition of their work is
very strongly with us. I consider the export promoters to be a
hugely effective resource for our work, indeed when Mr Heseltine
introduced them he saw them as market-focused, geographically
market-focused. What we are seeking to do because of the recommendation
we should put more concentration on sectoral development is to
move them into specific sectors. I spoke a moment ago about the
oil and gas sector as an opportunity, we are actually now recruiting
some export promoters for the oil and gas sector to bring in the
expertise of that industry rather than just the expertise of the
market.
Chairman
209. Thank you very much, Sir David. That has
been very helpful. We have had about two hours with you this morning.
It has been quite a session and we are very grateful for the fulsome
way in which you have answered our questions and we look forward
to receiving the supplementary notes and we wish you well in the
forthcoming negotiations for additional resources. We hope that
this morning's exchanges have assisted you to that end, although
I am not sure if your frankness in some areas may well have been
your undoing, but we are very grateful! Thank you very much.
(Sir David Wright) Thank you, Chairman, for the hearing
and I hope the explanation I have given will demonstrate the justification
in our bids for those resources.
Chairman: I hope it does.
5 Note by Witness: The Indo-British Partnership
Initiative was set up in 1993. Back
6
Note by Witness: There are three commercial Posts in Turkey.
The British Consulate in Izmir also has one member of staff working
on commercial matters. Back
7
See page 16. Back
8
Note by Witness: This statement was correct at the time
of the evidence session. Two have subsequently declined the job
offer and offers have been made to alternative candidates both
of whom have private sector experience but are currently in the
public sector. Back
9
Note by Witness: This statement was correct at the time
of the evidence session. Two have subsequently declined the job
offer and offers have been made to alternative candidates both
of whom have private sector experience but are currently in the
public sector. Back
10
Note by Witness: This figure includes all private sector
secondees to British Trade International, of which 88 are Export
Promoters. Back
| 
