§ Mr. Willisasked the Minister of Supply and of Aircraft Production what steps are being taken to ensure that surplus machine tools are made readily available for re-equipping industrial undertakings; and what is the procedure adopted in their disposal.
§ Mr. WoodburnFor details of the procedure I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to the hon. and gallant Member for Altrincham and Sale (Colonel Enroll) on 22nd August last [Official Report, Vol. 413, c. 609-10], of which I am sending him a copy.
Machines are sold direct to users from the site at selected factories where the quantity is sufficient to justify insitituting a temporary sales centre and in order to give equal opportunity to all industrialists requiring machines for their own use, offers by them to purchase are dealt with in rotation at both the permanent disposal centres and at the special site sales. Announcements of special site sales are made in all the disposal centres and by notices in the technical Press. Up to 16th February, a total of 17,511 machines to a value of…4,802,428 had been sold in this way.