asked the Secretary of State for Trade what are the administrative criteria now to be applied in addition to the statutory criteria in deciding which contracts qualify for the Cost Escalation Insurance Scheme.

Under the Export Guarantees Amendment Act cost escalation cover can only be given for the purpose of encouraging trade with other countries, and payments can only be made to persons who have entered into export contracts as defined in Section 6(5) of the Act.The main administrative eligibility criteria are as I announced them on 20th February. The scheme is intended to assist exporters of major capital goods, and with this in mind I have been consulting industry about the application of these criteria in practice.