§ Mr. Bottomleyasked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty what factors governed the timing of the recent placing of Admiralty contracts with shipyards in the North-East of England.
§ Mr. C. Ian Orr-EwingTenders were invited last year for the design and building of two tankers as part of our normal replacement programme. Consideration of the tenders followed the normal time-scale for this sort of project and the orders were placed as soon as we had decided on the merits of the tenders.
At the same time we knew there was another old ship which ought to be replaced and it was planned to do this next year but Her Majesty's Government decided that the order for this ship should be brought forward to help the shipbuilding industry at the present time.