§ Mr. Moonmanasked the President of the Board of Trade, if he will specify each of the areas of contact his Department has with industry.
§ Mr. CroslandMy Department has a wide range of contacts with industry278W collectively and with individual industries and firms arising out of its responsibilities for policy, and the administration of legislation, on investment grants, monopolies mergers and restrictive business practices, companies and bankruptcy, patents, trade marks, industrial property and copyright, distribution of industry, export promotion, the protective tariff and anti-dumping duties, import licensing, hire purchase, consumer protection, and various other aspects of Government economic policy.
The Department has particularly close contact with the industries for which it is the sponsor Department; these industries, which now include shipping and civil aviation, were listed in an answer the then Financial Secretary gave in the House on 28th April, 1967. The Department is also represented on many of the Economic Development Committees.
At the regional level, close contact is maintained with industry through the Board of Trade regional offices. The Department also has wide-ranging contacts with trade associations and individual concerns over the provision of statistics needed by Government and industry.