§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the proportion of imports of capital goods bought by manufacturing industry; and what is the ratio of imports to United Kingdom production of capital goods.
§ Mr. Norman LamontNo estimates exist giving the proportion of imports of capital goods bought by manufacturing industry, or of the ratio of imports of capital goods to United Kingdom production of capital goods. To derive these estimates would involve disproportionate costs. This is due to the lack of consistency between the definition of capital goods according to the standard industrial trade classification (SITC) used for overseas trade statistics, and the standard industrial classification (SIC) used to define United Kingdom industries and commodity groupings.