Normantonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he intends to implement the long-standing proposals to make new provision for housing the Patent Office to enable it to provide a better service to British industry.
§ John DaviesI am fully conscious of the need to provide the Patent Office 183W with better and more compact accommodation. I am therefore considering, with the Secretary of State for the Environment, the provision of a new building in the Holborn area. But because this could not be built for some years, lie and I are seeking to concentrate the patent examining staff into a single building in Holborn We are treating this as a matter of urgency.