§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the annual trade balance of the engineering sector in each year from 1979 to 1990; and what are the comparable figures for West Germany over the same years.
§ Mr. LeighAn exercise was undertaken in 1987 when some 3,000 items of equipment, ranging from computers, typewriters, video recorders and facsimile machines, had identification markings applied to them.
61WSince then, smaller, easily removable items of IT office equipment, such as telephones, portable PCs, and so on, have a marking applied to them.
In the context of IT and office equipment the issue of potential theft is under continuing review as part of our security policy.