§ 7. Sir Knox Cunninghamasked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs what progress has been made in the diversification of Short Brothers and Harland's operations; what are the names of the consultants whom he has appointed to advise him; and when he will be in a position to act on their advice.
§ 26. Mr. Pounderasked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs if he has yet received the consultants' report on the future of Short Brothers and Harland, Belfast; and when he will make an announcement.
§ 32. Mr. McMasterasked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs if he will give the details of the background and experience of the firm of Messrs. Arthur D. Little, consultants, which led him to appoint them to review the affairs of Short Brothers and Harland.
§ 36. Mr. Kilfedderasked the First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs when he expects to receive the consultants' report on Short Brothers and Harland, Belfast.
§ Mr. George BrownMay I, with your permission, Mr. Speaker, preface this Answer by thanking the hon. and learned Member for Antrim, South (Sir Knox Cunningham) for protecting me from his hon. Friends last week.
Messrs. Arthur D. Little have been appointed. They will take about six months to complete their report. They were chosen for two main reasons: their considerable experience of the diversification of the activities of companies in the aircraft field; and their knowledge of Northern Ireland through the work they were commissioned to do in 1959 by the Northern Ireland Development Council.
§ Sir Knox CunninghamWill the right hon. Gentleman be making the report public, and, since the review will not affect the position which is being considered by the Plowden Committee, will he state whether he has any further orders for aircraft for Shorts in the offing?
§ Mr. BrownOn the latter point, the hon. and learned Gentleman will know that I made a fairly full statement at Shorts last week, which received widespread publicity, and I do not think I need add to that or go beyond it. On his first point, I think that, before actually committing myself to publication of the full report—after all, the consultants were brought in with the agreement of the company—we had better await the nature of the report and decide then whether it is the right sort of thing to publish or not.
§ Mr. Chichester-ClarkBut without waiting for the consultants' report, will the right hon. Gentleman, for the benefit of American competitors and others, reiterate the pledge he gave about Shorts, that the company would remain in the aircraft industry and will thus be fully able to meet its present and future commitments'?
§ Mr. BrownCertainly. The Minister of Aviation has said this. I said it in Northern Ireland. I repeat it here now. I think that it would be very good for Shorts, and for Northern Ireland, if there were diversification of its interests and if it were not linked to this one form of enterprise; but, having said that, we have both of us made clear—using exactly the same words—that Shorts is in the aircraft industry, it will remain part of the aircraft industry, and anyone who has bought or is thinking of buying any of its excellent products can be quite sure that the company will be able to fulfil all its after-sales service and so on.
§ Sir A. V. HarveyWill the right hon. Gentleman take into account that a firm like Shorts cannot diversify for several years and the company will go through a very difficult period in the intervening time? Does he still hold the view that the Shorts plant is suitable for diversification for machine tools? No one else does.