§ Mr. John Biffenasked the Minister of Technology if he will list the five contracts for machine tools which have been placed by his Department, giving the date the contract was signed, the firm concerned, the type of machine tool, the sum involved, and the date for completion of the contract in each case.
§ Mr. CousinsThe five machine tool research and development contracts placed by my Department to which I referred in my statement in the House on the 25th April, 1966 were:
British trade fairs to enable the cost to participating firms to be reduced.
Table 1 shows the Government's contribution during the last five years to British trade fairs in foreign and Commonwealth countries. I regret that it is not possible to say how much of this expenditure was in foreign exchange; nor have I information about the total expenditure by private interests on these events.
Table 2 gives the figures of our exports to the countries where British trade fairs have taken place during the last five years.
101W
Table 2 U.K. EXPORTS £ million 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 U.S.S.R. … … 23.7 27.4 37.2 43.7* 42.1 55.6 38.0 45.5 Sweden … … 104.4 112.1 131.0 141.4 154.4* 169.2 198.2 219.4 Switzerland … 35.3 52.1 47.4 54.5 65.7 74.6* 87.1 89.2 Spain … … 24.3 20.3 24.9 32.2 52.6 60.3* 67.2 84.0 Australia … … 235.9 223.9 260.4 201.9 229.2 236.6* 256.8 280.3 China … … 26.6 24.4 31.4 12.9 8.4 13.2 17.7* 24.9 Japan … … 19.8 32.6 28.5 42.7 44.5 51.1 58.6 50.6* * Denotes the year in which a British Trade Fair took place.