§ Mr. Kaufmanasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will make a statement about his intentions for the future financing of British Shipbuilders.
§ Mr. Adam ButlerThe Government have decided, subject to approval of a Supplementary Estimate to be presented to Parliament shortly, that the corporation will be financed by public dividend capital and that advances will be made to enable the corporation to repay the loans it has drawn from the national loans fund on an interim basis. The corporation will not pay dividends on its capital until it is profitable and, for the time being, it will not be able to meet the general criterion for dividends set out in paragraph 86 of the White Paper on nationalised industries (Cmnd. 7131).