HC Deb 29 April 1968 vol 763 cc784-5
48. Mr. Willey

asked the Minister of Technology whether he will make a statement on the future of the Furness shipyard.

Mr. Fowler

We are now considering the conclusions of the economic appraisal which has been made and hope to make a statement shortly.

Mr. Willey

I appreciate my hon. Friend's prompt intervention, but is there any possibility of the yard being continued on a management basis, because orders have now come in to a much better extent than we thought possible a few months ago and it might be possible for orders to be carried out in this yard?

Mr. Fowler

When my right hon. Friend says that orders have been coming in much better than we expected a few months ago, I think that he refers to the industry as a whole and, unfortunately, not to this yard, where new orders have been nil since devaluation, which one would have expected to give a boost to all yards. As for management, there are various ways of arranging for a yard to be managed, but the essential problem is that a yard can be run only by an owner with considerable capital resources.