§ Mr. Allan Robertsasked the Secretary of State for Trade (1) what proposals exist for the Government to reduce their role in export promotion and for the abolition of dumping supervision;
(2) what proposals exist to abolish his discretionary power governing undesirable company names, to institute a 24-hour notice in place of the on-demand service at the companies registration office and to abolish the discretionary power to allow companies to omit "Limited" in their name and the requirement to include directors' names on business documents;
(3) if he will list the services provided by his Department that it is intended will be reduced in order to reduce the need for employing as many civil servants;
(4) what proposals exist to remove the present bankruptcy service from his Department; and whether this service is to be replaced by anything if so removed;
(5) what reduction he proposes to make in the commercial relations division of his Department; and whether the savings are to be made by refusing to discuss trade treaties with certain specified or unspecified countries;
(6) what proposals exist to reduce supervisory controls on insurance companies; or if any such proposals are likely to be made in the near future.
§ Mr. ParkinsonI am reviewing a number of functions of the Department with a view to reducing Civil Service 839W work, and will announce the outcome as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will circulate in the Official Report a table showing the unit value of United Kingdom exports of manufactures each quarter from 1 January 1977 to the latest quarter on a 1970 base and the weighted average of the export prices of United Kingdom principal competitors on the same bases, together with an index showing the one divided by the other.
§ Mr. ParkinsonUnit value information for the United Kingdom on a 1970 base was not compiled after 1977. Information as was available on 1970 = 100 was
UNITED KINGDOM TERMS OF TRADE (a) FOR MANUFACTURES OTS BASIS Semi Manufactures Finished Manufactures Total Manufactures Semi Manufactures Finished Manufactures Total Manufactures 1970–100(b) 1975–100 1963 … 107 99 103 105 99 102 1964 … 106 97 102 104 97 101 1965 … 105 100 102 103 100 101 1966 … 104 103 103 102 103 102 1967 … 105 102 104 103 102 103 1968 … 99 98 98 97 97 98 1969 … 97 99 98 95 99 97 1970 … 100 100 100 98 100 99 1971 … 105 102 104 103 102 103 1972 … 104 103 105 104 103 105 1973 … 95 99 97 94 96 96 1974 … 91 99 93 90 97 93 1975 … 102 102 102 100 100 100 1976 … 101 100 101 98 98 99 1977 … 102 107 105 98 103 101 1978 … — — — 100 105 103 1976 1st Quarter … 104 102 104 101 100 101 2nd Quarter … 100 100 101 97 98 98 3rd Quarter … 99 100 101 97 99 98 4th Quarter … 99 98 99 97 97 97 1977 1st Quarter … 100 104 103 96 100 99 2nd Quarter … 100 104 102 97 102 100 3rd Quarter … 102 107 106 98 104 102 4th Quarter … 105 111 109 99 105 103 1978 1st Quarter … — — — 101 106 104 2nd Quarter … — — — 101 103 103 3rd Quarter … — — — 100 105 103 4th Quarter … — — — 98 106 103 1979 1st Quarter … — — — 99 107 104 2nd Quarter … — — — 99 111 106 3rd Quarter … — — — 101 114 109 (a) Export unit value index as percentage of import unit value index—not seasonally adjusted. (b) The 1970-based index numbers were not compiled for periods after 1977. The 1975-based series differ from those based on 1970, the main reasons being different weighting, classification changes and methodological improvements.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the
840Wpublished up to August 1978 in table B23 of the monthly review of external trade statistics. Subsequent editions of the review include figures on 1975 = 100.