§ 83 and 84. Mr. Straussasked the Paymaster-General (1) what inquiries he made as to whether the building of the new strip mill at Colvilles had received the approval of the Iron and Steel Board before he authorised the loan to the company of £50 million for this purpose;
(2) on what dates the proposal to build the semi-continuous strip mill at Colvilles was submitted to the Iron and Steel Board for consideration, and approval was given by that Board.
§ Mr. MaudlingAs the right hon. Member will see from paragraph (1) of the Heads of Agreement between Messrs. Colvilles and Her Majesty's Government, it is a condition of the loan that the company's plans must be approved by the Iron and Steel Board.
The company has not yet submitted a detailed scheme for the consideration of the Iron and Steel Board. The nature of its proposals were, however, fully discussed between the company, the Government, and the Board; and, before the 139W Government entered into negotiation with the company, the Board informed my noble Friend that, subject to their examination of detailed plans, they regarded these proposals as acceptable.