§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Industry what is the present estimated cost of the BSC modernisation programme that was assessed at £3,000 million in 1972; and what investment will be required to meet the programme by 1980 assuming an annual average inflation of 10 per cent.
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§ Mr. Les HuckfieldThe estimated cost of BSC's development strategy in the White Paper of February 1973 (Cmnd 5226) was £3,000 million at March 1972 prices. Using the same price basis the corporation recently revised the estimated cost to £3,600 million, the increase being mainly due to changes in the technical content of the programme. The corporation has also estimated, using its own inflation assumptions, that on present plans its investment expenditure in the period April 1972 to March 1982 will 're about £9,000 million at outturn prices.