§ Mr. Bishopasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action he has recently taken to assist the development of the machine tool industry; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Anthony GrantAssistance was provided to the industry in 1972 at a time of a deep cyclical recession in its order intake by means of a special scheme of public sector purchasing of machine tools. Finance has also been made available to Kearney & Trecker Marwin to assist the development of this recently formed company which operates in the important field of numerically controlled machine tools. I have been glad to note 17W the marked and continuing revival in the industry's order position during 1973.