§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement about the establishment of a review team to investigate diversification opportunities for Harland and Wolff Ltd.
§ Mr. Giles ShawAs foreshadowed in my statement of 1 July 1980—[Vol. 987, c. 534]—an independent diversification review team has been set up by the Government with the following terms of reference
To examine the prospects for additional uses for the existing production facilities at Queen's Island (in the form of either joint ventures with Harand and Wolff or of completely separate enterprises), having regard to existing skills, but not restricting the scope of examination to enterprises making direct use of available physical facilities and to examine proposals for disposal of under-utilised resources, joint ventures and other industrial development".The team will be headed by Mr. Patrick Meaney, a prominent industrialist; and will include Mr. David Berriman, a leading merchant banker; Sir Gordon Booth, until recently Director General of the British Trade Development Office in the United States of America; and Mr. Alex Cooke, a Northern Ireland business man and acting chairman of Harland and Wolff.It is hoped that the diversification review team can present its initial report and recommendations to the Government by the spring of next year.