§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Technology whether he is aware that at the end of the first quarter of 1968 engineering orders on hand had fallen to £142 million compared with £149 million in 1967; what the reason was for this decrease; and what action he plans to take to reverse this trend.
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§ Dr. BrayI am aware that the index of total orders on hand held by the engineering industries declined from 149 to 142 (on a base of December, 1958= 100) between the end of March, 1967 and the corresponding month in 1968. Export orders on hand rose during this period, but this increase was more than outweighed by a continued fall in orders on hand for the home market, partly due to a continued increase in deliveries. The rise in export order books is a very welcome development in the light of the Government's policy of checking the growth of public expenditure and private consumption and of releasing the resources necessary to sustain as large an increase in exports and industrial investment as possible. On the home side I look forward to an increase in new orders in line with the forecast rise in capital investment by private industry and business.