asked the Secretary of State for Industry what progress has been made in the arrangements to govern the provision to him of information of former Court Line companies, mentioned in his letter of 19th September 1974 as requiring settlement as soon as possible.

Arising from the Letter of Understanding of 19th September 1974 with each of the shipbuilding and ship repairing companies of the former Court Line group, my Department now receives cash flows, balance sheets, profit and loss accounts and production figures on a regular basis. Additionally, there is very frequent contact between the officials of my Department and the companies

£m. Outturn prices
									1965–66	1966–67	1967–68
IREs and Computer-Aided Design Centre						…	…	…	7·5	8·4	10·3
R & D contracts and other extra-mural expenditure							…	…	3·4	3·7	4·3
Technological and industrial sponsorship						…	…	…	0·4	1·8	8·5
International Computers (Holdings) Ltd						…	…	…	—	—	—
Totals	…	…	…	…	…	…	…	…	11·3	13·9	23·1
									1968–69	1969–70	1970–71
IREs and Computer-Aided Design Centre						…	…	…	9·8	9·8	11·0
R & D contracts and other extra-mural expenditure							…	…	4·0	4·3	4·6
Technological and Industrial Sponsorship						…	…	…	4·9	4·5	4·7
International Computers (Holdings) Ltd.						…	…	…	—	—	—
Totals	…	…	…	…	…	…	…	…	18·7	18·6	20·3
									1971–72	1972–73	1973–74
IREs and Computer-Aided Design Centre						…	…	…	11·2	12·6	13·2
R & D contracts and other extra-mural expenditure							…	…	4·4	4·3	7·3
Technological and Industrial Sponsorship						…	…	…	3·0	5·0	5·2
International Computers (Holdings) Ltd.						…	…	…	—	8·8	9·5
Totals	…	…	…	…	…	…	…	…	18·6	30·7	35·2
Grand Total			…	…	…	…	…	…	£190·4m.
Annual average			…	…	…	…	…	…	£21·2m.

The powers in the Act also cover support to the Agricultural, Medical, Natural Environment, Science and Social Science Research Councils, all of which are the responsibility of the Department of Education and Science, and some expenditure by other Government Departments, including energy research by the Department of Energy and work on weights and measures by the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection.