§ Mr. Fisherasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the balance of trade in (a) information technology and (b) micro-electronics in 1979 and in each of the subsequent years for which statistics are available.
§ Mr. ButcherAvailable information is shown in the table.
Crude balance of trade* £ million Information Technology—Manufacturing Component† Micro-Electronics‡ 1979 -468 -13 1980 -384 -8 1981 -1,070 -144 1982 -1,458 -182 1983 -2,149 -418 1984 -2,259 -679 Notes:
* The crude balance of trade is exports fob less imports cif.
† The manufacturing component of the information technology industry is defined as the following activity headings in the Standard Industrial Classification (1980): Office machinery (AH 3301), electronic data processing equipment (AH 3302), telegraph and telephone equipment (AH 3441), radio and electronic capital goods (AH 3443), passive electronic components (AH 3444), active electronic components and sub-assemblies (AH 3453), and electronic consumer goods (AH 3454).
‡ The micro-electronic industry is taken as being the following two activity headings in the Standard Industrial Classification (1980): passive electronic components (AH 3444) and active electronic components and sub-assemblies industries (AH 3453).