§ Lord Bruce-Gardyneasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will make it a precondition for consideration of any application for further launch aid from Airbus Industrie that that consortium should publish audited accounts of a standard acceptable under United Kingdom company law.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Lucas of Chilworth)Her Majesty's Government have not in the past received nor would it be appropriate for them to receive any application for launch aid from Airbus Industrie. Any such application has to be made by British Aerospace. As aGroupement d'Intérêt economique established under French law, Airbus Industrie is not required to make public its audited accounts.