§ Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what action he has taken to investigate the effect of the 629W Texas Instruments company's product problems on the integrity of United Kingdom defence equipment incorporating its products; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will take action to ensure that within the defence sales "two-way-street" arrangement with the United States Government no impediments will be permitted by either Government or companies participating in the scheme to withhold data from users as to the quality and performance of supplier's products; and if he will make a statement;
(3) what representations were made to the Government of the United States and to the Texas Instruments company about the three-week delay in releasing to Her Majesty's Government and to British contractors, details of the scale and effect of product reliability problems discovered in Texas Instruments production processes.
§ Mr. ButlerMy Department immediately sought and is now obtaining from Texas Instruments details of the electronic chips the testing of which is suspect. The implications of this information for product reliability will be studied carefully and the necessary action taken. Extensive incoming tests on components, plus tests at the sub-assembly and system level, suggest that system reliability may not have been affected. There is no evidence of failures attributable to the use of TI chips.
The lapse of time between TI s initial notification to the United States Government and the receipt of details in the United Kingdom is attributed to the laborious nature of the review which was necessary to establish the extent of the problem.