§ Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for Industry (1) whether any instructions have been issued by his Department to the British Technology Group to safeguard computer-aided design resources for which it was responsible from passing into foreign ownership;
(2) if his Department was consulted by the British Technology Group before the sale of computer-aided design companies for which it was responsible passed into foreign ownership.
§ Mr. ButcherNo instructions have been issued, but in the recent sale of the NRDC subsidiary Compeda, the Department was properly consulted, given its rights to 495W some of the important software products which were marketed by Compeda, and was able to satisfy itself that the essential United Kingdom interests were being preserved.