§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will make a state- 208W ment on his recent visit to the Longbridge Works of British Leyland.
§ Mr. Varley,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 14th February 1977], gave the following information:
On 11th February Mr. Alex Park, Mr. Jack Jones, Mr. Hugh Scanlon and I, as members of the Motor Industry Tripartite Group, met representatives of the Leyland Cars management and work- force at Longbridge. During the meeting I emphasised the assistance which the Government had provided to the motor industry, particularly for investment in British Leyland, but stressed the critical position in which the industry stood. I said the Government would take account of the views expressed about the effects of the present pay policy and that a wages and prices explosion must be avoided. We stressed that the success of the industry—to which we were all pledged—depended on increasing levels of production and on positive action being taken to achieve this by all those present and by the people they represented. We asked for their urgent suggestions on how efficiency, investment and quality could be improved, how greater continuity of production could be achieved through a reduction in the excessively high level of stoppages and how better use could be made of the participation machinery.
The management and union representatives present agreed that there was need to consider urgently what improvements could be made in all these areas. I asked them to make their proposals for action known to the Tripartite Group as soon as possible.