HL Deb 05 May 1983 vol 442 c185
Lord Gainford

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when the manufacture of video tape recorders in the United Kingdom is likely to commence.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security (Lord Trefgarne)

My Lords, by the end of this year, there will be three manufacturers of video recorders in the United Kingdom. A joint venture with JVC of Japan commenced production at Newhaven in October 1982, and Mitsubishi and Sanyo have announced that they plan to commence production later this year in Scotland, and at Lowestoft, respectively.

Lord Gainford

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that Answer. Will the opportunity for British technology now to enter this very popular form of entertainment possibly produce a combination of increased quality and competitive price?

Lord Trefgarne

I certainly hope so, my Lords. However, I should point out that the present licences for this technology are held by Japanese companies, and it is, I believe, thought that yet another type of video recorder—as I say, there are already three on the market—might not necessarily be commercially attractive.