§ 1. Mr. Biffenasked the Minister of Technology what is the forecast value of net new home orders for machine tools during 1967; and how much of this is accounted for by expected public sector purchasing.
§ The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Technology (Mr. Peter Shore)Forecasts of this kind, for obvious reasons, can only be very tentative and it has not been the practice to make them. However, such information as we have suggests that home orders for machine tools in 1967 should not be significantly lower than in the present year.
§ Mr. BiffenIs not that an extraordinarily disappointing Answer in view of the Government's oft-declared target that one should raise manufacturing investment? What is the hon. Gentleman doing in his sponsoring capacity to try to ensure me a rather better answer and more generous figures?
§ Mr. ShoreWe are carrying out a wide range of measures in order to encourage and maintain investment in machine tools, and we are also prepared to consider measures to sustain, should this be necessary, the level of machine tool demand. I would remind the hon. Gentleman that the industry's order books are at a very high level—indeed, almost a record level.
§ Mr. David PriceHow does the hon. Gentleman's main Answer tie up with the Government's estimate in the National Plan that machine tool production should 1118 increase by an average of 7.8 per cent. between 1964 and 1970?
§ Mr. ShoreIt ties up perfectly well, because it is the essence of a national plan that one is forecasting over a five-year period what one considers to be the growth of production and output of a particular industry. It is precisely the need to do this, balanced against the often short term fluctuations of demand for an industry, which makes planning so particularly valuable.