asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will give the quantity, and reason for disposal, of chrome ore which had been held in stockpiles of strategic materials.

I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Central (Mr. Caborn) on 3 November 1986, at column 312, concerning the Government's policy on the maintenance of supplies of strategic minerals. It remains the Government's policy not to confirm details of individual transactions relating to the strategic mineral stockpile given the commercially sensitive nature of the information concerned.