§ Mr. Woofasked the Secretary of State for Industry what are the current order prospects for the United Kingdom's power plant manufacturing industries; and what is the United Kingdom's share of world trade in electrical equipment.
Mr. Alan Williams,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 13th December 1976], gave the following information:
I regret that information relating exclusively to the power plant manufacturing industries cannot be made available without giving or inferring confidential data of individual companies. Order books are low for the whole electrical machinery industry*, which includes 684W power generating plant. Some improvement in export and total orders has taken place in recent months, however, while orders on hand for the home market have remained depressed.
In 1975 the United Kingdom's share of exports of electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances† by the main manufacturing countries of the world was 8.8 per cent.
* Minimum List Heading 361 of the Standard Industrial Classification.† Division 72 of the Standard International Trade Classification.