§ Mr. Fitchasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he will grant financial assistance to Bernard Hughes Limited to ensure the continued existence of the firm until the report of an expert working party under Professor Gibson of the New University of Ulster, examining the bread industry in Northern Ireland, is published and considered.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesThe Northern Ireland Department of Commerce has offered special short-term assistance to Bernard Hughes Ltd. The purpose of this assistance is to help the company to maintain manufacturing jobs in west Belfast, an area of high unemployment, and to facilitate a programme of company rationalisation on which the firm intends to embark.