§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Industry what percentage of machine tools in industry are less than 10 years old at the latest date for which figures are available; and how this companies with the percentages for (a) Japan, (b) West Germany, (c) France and (d) the United States of America.
§ Mr. MacGregorThere are no official statistics of the age patterns of machine tool populations, but an article in "American Machinist" of October 1977 gave the following information:
Country Percentage of machines under 10 years old Date of Survey Great Britain 39 1976 Japan 60 1973 West Germany *37 1976 France †34 1974 USA 33 1973 * Percentage of machines less than 11 years old. † Percentage of machines less than 9 years old.