§ Mr. BellinghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he last made use of his powers under section 3(2)(a) of the Industry Act 1980.
§ Mr. RidleyAs reported to Parliament, in the summer supplementary estimates on class V vote 1, on 14 July 1988 my predecessor used his powers under section 3(2)(a)of the Industry Act 1980 to purchase a security in Rover Group plc for £547 million, following the agreement reached with British Aerospace plc, and approved by the European Commission, for the sale of the Government shareholding in Rover Group plc.
Details of my predecessor's use of section 3 of the Industry Act 1980 are given in reports under section 3(4) of that Act which have been placed in the Library today. I regret that, due to an administrative error, the reports were not laid before the House earlier.