§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of United Kingdom exports of finished manufactures now consist of imports of personal computers and of the products of screwdriver plants; how many constituents of the index of manufacturing output are based on other than net output; and what is their weight.
§ Mr. RedwoodI have been asked to reply.
Information in respect of personal computers and screwdriver plants is not available.
For an explanation of the methods and sources used for the index of manufacturing output, I refer the hon. 854W Member to the article "The Rebased Index of Production" which was published in Economic Trends (February 1989), a copy of which is available in the Library.