asked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will give details of the financing arrangements to be made to build 22 ships for Poland; and in what way these arrangements differ from those where the Government buy such ships for their own account.

Details of the financial arrangements are still under negotiation and are confidential at this stage.

asked the Secretary of State for Industry on what basis and through what agency he proposes to allocate the building of the ships involved in the recent Anglo-Polish trade deal; and to what extent this allocation will be determined by essentially commercial considerations.

Allocation of ships to particular yards will be the responsibility of British Shipbuilders after vesting.

asked the Secretary of State for Industry whether the Anglo-Polish trade deal announced on 16th December 1976 includes a binding commitment on the Polish Government to buy British ships; if so, whether the Polish buyers will obtain any terms as a result of the agreement that they would not have obtained if they had entered into a commercial agreement with British shipbuilders; whether the buyers will obtain any advantages not available to British shipping companies who order ships in United Kingdom yards; and whether the payments from the buyers will vary with the operating profitability of the ships.

The United Kingdom and Polish Governments have agreed the deal in principle. Details of the financial arrangements are still in the course of negotiation and must therefore be confidential at this stage.