§ 32. Mr. Biffenasked the Minister of Technology if he is satisfied that the data he possesses is comprehensive and reliable enough to produce an index of wage/ salary cost per unit output and capital employed per unit output for the 1430 mechanical engineering, electronic, telecommunication, computer and machine tool industries; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BiffenWould not the right hon. Gentleman agree that these indices are the necessary indicators of industrial efficiency? If he does not possess this information, how could his predecessor say in a public speech that some companies in the engineering industry were more than twice as efficient as others?
§ Mr. BennSome of the comparisons which have been published were based on particular studies in particular industries, but the information for which the hon. Gentleman asks in the Question is not in any case exactly the information in the form in which we would want it. It would be not only working capital in which we would be interested, but probably more investment in plant and investment per unit output.
§ Sir H. Legge-BourkeWould not the right hon. Gentleman accept that in order to fulfil his sponsorship of the industries mentioned in the Question, it is essential that he should be able to obtain wage/salary cost per unit figures? Is he doing anything about getting them?
§ Mr. BennIt is certainly true that a great deal more information is needed in order to be able to do the job which we have been set up to do. Good companies, of course, provide this information themselves as part of cost control and it is our job to encourage other companies to do the same. But the answer to the Question is that there is not yet sufficient information on a scale to publish an index.