§ Sir B. Jannerasked the Minister of Technology if he will estimate the extent to which manufacturing industries requiring costly and elaborate production machinery in this country have, during recent years, adopted the system of the British shoe manufacturing industry under which the greater part of the machinery is leased rather than bought outright; and what assistance and advice is given by his Department in connection with the evolution of such systems.
§ Mr. BennThere are no official statistics to show the proportion of machinery installed in manufacturing industry which is leased rather than bought outright. The indications are that although a wide variety of equipment is obtained on lease, it forms only a small proportion of the total. One exception, in addition to that mentioned by the hon. Member, is computers: about 55 per cent. of domestic computer business is on rental terms.
The advantages of leasing and of trial period schemes have been brought to the attention of users of machinery. With the change to the Investment Grants System, it is hoped that more flexible leasing terms may be offered to lessees of new advanced types of machinery.