§ Sir Ian Orr-Ewingasked the Minister of Technology, in view of the fact that capital investment in the British engineering industry is currently half that of Sweden, France, Japan and Germany, as stated in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 1969 Report, what action he will take to improve the position.
Mr. Alan WilliamsStatistics published in the O.E.C.D. Report on the Engineering Industries suggest that investment per head in these industries is lower in the United Kingdom than in some of our competitors. The Government's economic and industrial policies are designed to stimulate as high a level of investment, particularly in the manufacturing sector, as can be supported by the balance of payments.