§ Dr. Summerskillasked the Secretary of State for Industry whether, in view of increasing competition from Japan, he will provide additional assistance to the machine tool industry.
§ Mr. MacGregorMy Department is already giving substantial assistance to the machine tool industry. Many machine tool companies are receiving grants under the support for innovation programme and further applications for such assistance will be welcome. The £35 million flexible manufacturing scheme can assist the industry with the costs of adopting more advanced manufacturing technology and will also increase demand for machine tools. A further boost to United Kingdom machine tool demand has been given this year by the £30 million small engineering firms investment scheme where 57 per cent. of orders have been placed with United Kingdom suppliers—a higher percentage than might have been expected from recent experience.