§ Mr. Lawsonasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection what is her best estimate of the expenditure that would be saved in the public sector by the suspension of progress towards metrication.
Mr. Alan WilliamsThere is no question of abandoning the metrication programme, which has been running for over ten years under successive Governments. With the exception of the costs of running the Metrication Board, which were approximately £655,000 in 1974, it is not possible to identify savings that might be made in the public sector. Evidence from sectors of industry that have gone metric suggests that once and for all costs of metrication are often incurred at a time when plant and machinery would in any event have to be replaced or serviced. There are also clear savings arising from standardisation and a reduction in stock sizes. The public purchasing sector clearly benefits from such economies.