§ Mr. CohenTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what proportion of the United Kingdom machine tools industry is devoted to(a) armaments production and (b) tools capable of producing armaments; what is the total value of the machine tools industry in the United Kingdom; and what was the total value of machine tools exports from the United Kingdom in the last available year.
§ Mr. SainsburyThe United Kingdom machine tool industry is devoted to producing machine tools, not armaments. Machine tools themselves can usually be used to make a variety of products, depending on the skill of the operator or their computer programming. It is not possible to estimate how many machine tools are used for particular purposes.
In 1992 sales of United Kingdom-made machine tools were £853 million and exports were worth £456 million. Provisional figures for 1993 indicate that the industry ran a balance of trade surplus of £31 million, reflecting a lower level of imports and higher competitiveness. I have written to the Machine Tool Technologies Association congratulating the industry on this achievement.