§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Secretary of State for Industry (1) whether he will consider the early allocation of Government financial support to British integrated circuit manufacturers in order to ensure that the chip requirements of any domestic citizens band radio equipment manufacturing capacity are met by United Kingdom producers;
(2) if he is satisfied that specifications announced on citizens band radio equipment include the use of the integrated circuits already available in the United Kingdom; and, in the event of their being unavailable, what action his Department is taking to ensure that importers do not take unfair advantage of this unavailability.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe Home Office specifications for citizens band radio equipment will cover only the frequency and performance characteristics necessary to limit interference to other users of the radio spectrum. It will be open to the manufacturer to design his product around whatever components and integrated circuits are available to him from the United Kingdom or overseas. The Government have already provided very substantial support for the establishment of manufacturing facilities for all kinds of integrated circuits in the United Kingdom, but this Department will be very ready to consider how we can best help—under the usual rules—further projects which manufacturers may propose.
§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Secretary of State for Industry (1) if he will take steps to ensure that manufacturers of radio and electronic equipment will be able to capture the market for citizens band radio equipment before their overseas competitors;
(2) whether he will make representations to integrated circuit manufactures to ensure that the integrated circuit requirements that stem from the introduction of specifications by the Home Department on citizens band radio are provided for by domestic manufacturing industry on the earliest possible date.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe Home Office has already made available copies of the draft specifications for citizens band radio equipment to companies known to be interested. However, the manufacturer of components 141W such as integrated circuits would normally be approached by the manufacturer of the equipment, who is free to design his product in the best way to meet the performance requirements at a target price. I hope that United Kingdom manufacturers will take advantage of this new market, and the Department of Industry will be ready to help in any way possible under the normal schemes for product development and assisting manufacturing investment.