§ 80. Sir Anthony Royleasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the contracts placed in the United Kingdom by the Government of Hong Kong in 1974, 1975, and 1976; and if he will detail the value to the United Kingdom of these projects both in money terms and employment terms.
§ Mr. LuardThe total value of contracts placed in the United Kingdom by the Hong Kong Government for the last three years is as follows:
1973–74 … … HK$39 million 1974–75 … … HK$60 million 1975–76 … … HK$53 million This is equivalent to a total of about £20 million at the current rate of exchange. I regret that it is not possible to provide a detailed list of the contracts placed by the Hong Kong Government.
It is not possible to quantify the value of these contracts to the United Kingdom in employment terms but, if the much larger contracts placed by the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Corporation are also taken into account, it is evident that there has been a considerable stimulus to employment in the industries concerned.