§ 19. Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Industry what prediction of further redundancies in British Steel has been given to him by the corporation in the context of its revised corporate plan.
§ Mr. Norman LamontIt will be some weeks before the Government receive the BSC corporate plan for 1983–86. However, the BSC chairman has already made clear that the target for employment in the corporation is now set at 75,000.
§ 21. Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will make a further statement about the prospects for the British steel industry.
§ Mr. Norman LamontI refer my hon. Friend to the answer which I gave earlier to the hon. Members for Rother Valley (Mr. Hardy), West Stirlingshire (Mr. Canavan) and Newport (Mr. Hughes).
§ 22. Mr. John H. Osbornasked the Secretary of State for Industry what further talks he has had with the Commission of the European Economic Community to 2W ensure that the level of cutback for (a) bulk and carbon steels and (b) special, alloy and stainless steels in the United Kingdom is no greater than that of other European Economic Community countries.
§ Mr. Norman LamontSince his statement on 20 December, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no further talks with the European Commission. In subsequent contacts at official level, the Government have made clear to the Commission their determination that the rules on State aids should be applied strictly and fairly, so that subsidies to steel companies are not given without commensurate capacity reductions. We have left the Commission and our Community partners in no doubt that it is the turn of other member States to cut capacity as we have done.