§ 33. Mr. Ashtonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what has been the percentage of import penetration in the information technology industries since 1978.
§ Mr. ButcherThere is no generally accepted statistical definition of information technology industries, and there are no easily separable figures for the service elements of information technology.
For the more obvious manufacturing sectors, import penetration varied widely in 1982 from 10 per cent. for telecommunications equipment to 105 per cent. for computers, in which there is a considerable entrepot trade. With permission, I will arrange for a detailed table to be published in the Official Report.
that will be issued to British Telecom when the Bill becomes law contains conditions that will oblige BT to continue to provide its network of public call boxes and the Director General will have powers to force BT to fulfil its obligations.