§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection when the Metrication Board was set up; who constitutes the board; who are the chairman and vice-chairman of the board; what salary or expenses are drawn; and what has been the total cost of the board to date.
§ Mr. John Fraser,pursuant to his reply (Official Report, 27th April 1976; Vol. 910, c. 67], gave the following information:
I regret that this additional information was omitted from the answer.
The chairman and deputy chairman receive salaries of £4,665 and £2,576 respectively per annum, while members receive £750 per annum. The director is a civil servant with the grade of Under-Secretary and is paid according to the nationally agreed scale for that grade. Travelling expenses and subsistence allowances for travel on the board's business are payable on the same basis as for senior civil servants.
The total cost of the board from its inception in April 1969 to the end of 1975, the latest date for which figures are available, was approximately £3,842,000.
CRUDE BALANCES*OF TRADE WITH EEC BY COMMODITY GROUP £ million Overseas Trade Statistics basis Total trade Manufactured goods Passenger motor cars Food and live animals 1970 … … … … -81 +423 +6 -433 1971 … … … … -255 +320 -59 -502 1972 … … … … -580 +27 -157 -498 1973 … … … … -1,173 -275 -198 -699 1974 … … … … -2,209 -643 -160 -1,221 1975 … … … … -2,386 -544 -232 -1,474 First quarter 1976 at annual rate … -2,017 -251 -331 1,320 *The crude balance is the difference between exports fob and imports cif.
§ Mr. Gouldasked the Secretary of State for Trade what has been the value, in constant terms, of the United Kingdom's exports to Common Market countries for 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976, at an annual rate; and what are the comparable figures for the rest of the world.