§ Mr. Stuart Hollandasked the Secretary of State for Industry whether a bid has been made for the British Steel subsidiary, Redpath Dorman Long, by the Dutch company De Groot what is the size of the bid; what safeguards there are to prevent asset-stripping by the Dutch company; what agreements have been entered into by De Groot to prevent redundancies 414W in Redpath Dorman Long as a United Kingdom subsidiary; whether he is satisfied with the price offered by De Groot in view of a recent Brazilian contract and letter of intent signed by the company for orders worth US $200 million, plus good cost-plus contracts in Hong Kong and elsewhere; and whether he has accounted for the loss to the British balance of payments if such contracts are supplied by De Groot from non-United Kingdom subsidiaries.
§ Mr. Michael MarshallThe disposal of Redpath Dorman Long is a matter for the corporation.