§ Miss Fookesasked the Secretary of State for Industry how many tanneries are currently using sperm oil; and what percentage of their products require this ingredient.
§ Mr. Les Huckfield:Precise information of this kind is not available to my Department. However I understand that the British Leather Manufacturers Association's report "The Utilisation of Sperm Oil by the British Leather Industry" incorporated some data which lead to the conclusion that between 55 per cent. and 65 per cent. of tanners used sperm oil in some or all of their production and the report also stated that sperm oil was relied on to a greater or lesser degree for the maintenance of quality standards in 40 per cent. to 60 per cent. of total leather production.