§ Mr. Formanasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is the latest estimate of the total value of purchases of goods and services made by the state industrial sector; and what proportion of that total was supplied by the private sector.
§ Mr. ButcherThe nationalised industries for which this Department is responsible — the British Steel Corporation, the Post Office and British Shipbuilders—estimate that their purchases of raw materials, goods and services amount to just less than £4,000 million a year. I regret that within this total it is not possible to identify purchases from the private sector.