§ 28. Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Technology why the figures published by his Department at monthly intervals over the past 14 months for machine tool production were at variance with those as published on Tuesday, 16th May, 1967 in the Machine Tool Order Statistics; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Dr. BrayApart from replacing provisional figures by final figures for the 4th quarter of 1966 the quarterly series of deliveries, orders outstanding and net new orders for metal working machine tools were not changed in the Ministry's Press Notice released on the 15th May, 1967. However, the method of estimating month to month changes has been revised to ensure that as much information as possible is taken into account and monthly estimates from January, 1966 onwards have been put on this new basis.