§ Mrs. Wiseasked the Secretary of State for Trade how many people in his Department are engaged in work connected with achieving import substitution; and towards which particular sectors or products they are currently directing their efforts.
§ Mr. Meacher, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 20 February 1979; Vol. 495W 963, c. 66–67] gave the following information:
About a quarter of officials within the Department's total complement of nearly 7,700 are in divisions concerned with external or internal trading policies. Although no officials are concerned full-time with import substitution this is an inseparable part of the general work of these divisions. It is a key activity which the Government are pursuing in all sectors but particularly in those covered by their industrial strategy.
I. UNITED KINGDOM IMPORTS FROM TURKEY (Tonnes) 1977 1978 Man-made fibre … … … … … … … … … 1,069 410 Finished fabric* … … … … … … … … … 161 256 Textile clothing† … … … … … … … … … 181 213 Source: United Kingdom Overseas Trade Statistics.
II. IMPORTS FROM TURKEY INTO EEC AND THE UNITED KINGDOM (Million US dollars) EEC(9) United Kingdom 1976 1977 1976 1977 Man-made fibre … … … … … 2.2 1.7 0.8 1.4 Finished fabric* … … … … … 15.5 15.2 0.7 1.0 Textile clothing† … … … … … 39.7 48.8 1.0 2.4 Source: OECD Series B. * These figures cover fabric, woven, of cotton, man-made fibres, silk (including noil or other waste silk), sheep's or lamb's wool or fine animal hair and knitted or crocheted fabrics, except that in Table II woven fabric of silk and knitted and crocheted fabrics are excluded. † Clothing accessories of textile fabric, not knitted or crocheted (e.g., shawls, scarves, ties, collars gloves, etc.) are included in Table I but excluded from Table II.