§ Mr. Hoyleasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will publish in the Official Reportdetails, for the past three years, of the percentage of his Department's textile purchases spun and woven overseas, the square yards represented by 446W such purchases, the value of the purchases, their country of origin, any directives issued by him to nationalised industries within his responsibility to buy British textiles and any directives issued by the National Enterprise Board to companies to buy British textiles.
§ Mr. CryerAs my Department is not a major buying department, the statistics requested by my hon. Friend are not readily available, and I am advised that it would be disproportionately costly to obtain them. No directives to buy British textiles have been issued, but nationalised industries have been encouraged to purchase their textiles from British sources unless there is a clear value-for-money advantage in purchasing overseas.
§ Mr. Hoyleasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will publish in the Official Reportthe action taken by his Department to advise central Government Departments to purchase British textiles, in pursuance of his undertaking in the House.
§ Mr. CryerAll purchasing Departments were asked to ensure that orders for textiles, bearing in mind their importance to our manufacturing industry, would be placed overseas only where there is a clear value-for-money advantage in so doing. I am satisfied that Government Departments do in fact make the vast bulk of all their purchases from the home market.