§ 20. Mr. Terry Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Industry when he will next have discussions with French Ministers about the Concorde programme.
§ Mr. KaufmanI expect to discuss the Concorde project with the French 23 Minister of Transport in due course, but no date has yet been fixed.
§ Mr. WalkerI thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Does he appreciate that we must keep closely in touch with the French? Now that we have made a breakthrough on sales of Concorde, is the industry equipped to make sure that when we get further orders we can go into production?
§ Mr. KaufmanI agree with my hon. Friend. I managed to have a brief word with M. Cavaillé when I was in New York for the Concorde inaugural. We shall keep in touch on these matters, and the conditions on which further Concordes could be built have been made clear.
§ Mr. Michael McNair-WilsonWhat discussions has the Minister had with the Chairman of British Aerospace about making some of the unsold Concordes available on lease?
§ Mr. KaufmanLeasing arrangements have been under very close consideration indeed. The hon. Gentleman will know that a leasing arrangement has already gone forward with regard to Singapore Airlines, and we are pursuing other possibilities extremely vigorously.
§ Mr. TebbitIs a profit on the production of further Concordes one of the necessary requirements before further production is authorised?
§ Mr. KaufmanNo further loss to the taxpayer—something that the hon. Gentleman, with his party's financial stringency, would no doubt endorse.