§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will place in the Library details of the abridged scheme now in use by the national weights and measures laboratory for examination of weighing machines submitted for pattern approval, together with examples of how and where this scheme has been applied, and of any improvements it has led to in the lengh of time and cost of such examinations.
§ Mr. FletcherThe scope of examination of weighing machines submitted for approval is matched to the nature, number, type and use of the machines; one-off designs are necessarily treated to less rigorous examination than volume production retail scales. Differing circumstances do not facilitate meaningful time and cost comparisons; however 50 per cent. reductions in the standard times have been achieved for one-off custom designs with consequential cost savings.
§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he has now published standard test procedures for the testing of weighing machines submitted for pattern approval; what arrangements he has made for the assessment of manufacturers' capability so that their own test data can be used for such examinations; and why the National Federation of Scale and Weighing Machine 1009W Manufacturers has received no official indication of the availability of such standard test procedures capability assessments to its members.
§ Mr. FletcherSome test procedures have already been published. The remainder will be issued by 31 December 1984. The Department presented proposals to the federation for the acceptance of manufacturers' test and trials data in March 1983, but these were not accepted by its members, who wished to retain the existing "spot check" arrangements pending an in-depth study of the application of quality assurance to metrological control. This matter is now part of the consideration of the committee on the metrological control of equipment for trade use, which is due to report by the end of the year.
per cent 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 Percentage share of volume of United Kingdom exports of steel taken by: EC including Greece 35 41 34 36 38 Other OECD† 27 26 33 30 27 Rest of the world excluding State Trading countries and South Africa‡ 28 28 28 31 31 United Kingdom imports of steel by tonnes as percentage of United Kingdom market for finished steel products from: EC including Greece 13 21 17 18 17 Other OECD† 5 8 5 6 5 Rest of the World excluding State Trading countries and South Africa‡ 1 1 — 1 — * Steel and steel products in tonnes as defined by Iron and Steel Statistics Bureau in their Annual Statistics. † OECD excluding EC. ‡ State trading countries cover China, USSR and other Eastern European countries excluding Yugoslavia.