§ Mr. Mikardoasked the Secretary of State for Defence what were the conditions, in respect of maintaining the Watford factory and the continuity of employment therein, under which S. G. Brown Limited was sold by Her Majesty's Government in 1959.
§ Dr. David OwenFollowing the decision announced in the House of Commons on 8th June, 1959, to dispose of S. G. Brown Ltd., the Admiralty received offers from a number of interested companies.
It was eventually decided that the offer made by the de Havilland Holdings Ltd., a member of the Hawker Siddeley Group, most satisfactorily met the considerations which it had been stated in the House would guide the Admiralty in disposing of S. G. Brown Ltd. These considerations were:
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- (a) that the business should be kept as a going concern under efficient management;
- (b) that the purchaser should give satisfactory assurances about his ability to provide continuity of employment for the present employees, and his intention to develop to the full the facilities available;
- (c) that the purchaser should not be under foreign control;
- (d) that the sale should not enable the purchaser to establish a monopoly in any particular field;
- (e) that the sale should not prejudice existing licensing arrangements between S. G. Brown Ltd. and American interests.
These were not binding conditions of sale, however, and it was recognised that it was impossible for any company taking over any other to give an unqualified guarantee of employment to individual workers or groups of workers.