§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will state the value and percentage of product cost which was represented by Government funding for British Aerospace's (a) design and development costs and (b) production costs for each of the following projects (a) 125–800, (b) Jetstream 31, 713W (c) ATP, (d) 146–100, (e) 146–200, (f) 146–300, (g) A300 B2/B4, (h) A300–600, (i) A310–200, (j) A310–300 and (k) A320–200.
§ Mr. PattieThe Government are not funding British Aerospace's production costs on any current civil aircraft programme. The Government have agreed to provide launch aid of up to £250 million, representing 54 per cent. of British Aerospace's estimated development costs on the A320. The Government also provided financial assistance of £7.8 million to Hawker Siddeley Aviation for development work on the 146 project, before that company was incorporated into British Aerospace.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information he has concerning total British Aerospace investment in current civil aircraft programmes; and how much this works out at (a) per British Aerospace employee and (b) per employee in the United Kingdom aerospace industry.
§ Mr. PattieOn the information currently available to the Department, the cumulative investment in civil aircraft programmes, comprising launch costs and production work in progress, by British Aerospace out of its own funds since 1979 is of the order of £1,300 million. This represents some £17,300 per British Aerospace employee and some £6,500 per employee in the United Kingdom aerospace industry. In addition, £196 million has been spent on launch costs, which was financed by Government launch aid.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what has been the total amount of funds made available by the Government to British Aerospace for current civil aircraft programmes in the form of (a) interest-free loan, (b) grant and (c) interest-bearing loan.
§ Mr. PattieThe Government have agreed to provide British Aerospace with repayable launch aid of up to £250 million in respect of one civil aircraft programme. Since January 1981, the Government have offered British Aerospace regional development grants and regional selective assistance under section 7 of the Industrial Development Act amounting to approximately £18 million, from which current civil aircraft programmes have derived benefit. In addition, the Government's investments in British Aerospace between 1977 and 1985 included public dividend capital from 1977 to 1980, a holding of ordinary shares from 1981 to 1985, and interest-bearing, repayable National Loans Fund advances. These investments were not directly related to individual civil aircraft programmes.
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§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate his Department has made of the revenue to be generated to the United Kingdom by (a) Airbus Industrie's forecast sales of 1,000 aircraft and (b) only 60 per cent. of their projected sales; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. PattieOn Airbus Industrie's current forecast of 1,000 sales of A330 and A340 aircraft to the year 2005, it is estimated that the revenues, expressed in outturn values, generated to the United Kingdom in respect of airframes would be in order of £16.5 billion. The corresponding figure for 600 aircraft sales would be in the order of £10 billion. In addition, it is expected that further substantial revenues would accrue from the supply of equipment and aero-engine components, but no estimate of the value can be given until the supplier selection procedures by Airbus Industrie and the engine manufacturers have been completed.
The Airbus A330/A340 programme would, in common with other civil aerospace programmes, contribute substantially to the United Kingdom's export earnings.