§ Mr. Bruce-Gardyneasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will specify in the Official Report the delivery dates for each of the three ferries and the two LPG carriers currently under production at Harland and Wolff, the nature of any penalty clauses for late delivery and the cost to public funds of any subvention from the shipbuilding industry fund required to secure these orders.
§ Mr. Giles Shaw[pursuant to his reply, 7 July 1980, c. 83]: The performance of a shipbuilding contract is a commercial matter between the company and its customers. The final contract delivery dates, beyond which delays may give rise to penalty payments, are not yet known, as they are subject to mutually agreed revision, for example under force majeure provisions.
I can confirm that intervention aid was committed in the case of the three ferries, but it is not the Government's practice to disclose either the amount of assistance provided towards individual orders, or details of individual contracts such as penalty clauses.