§ 1. Mr. Woodnuttasked the President of the Board of Trade how many applications he has received for assistance under the Development Areas Treasury Advisory Committee scheme for the Isle of Wight; how many have been settled; and what is the anticipated number of new jobs that will be available.
§ The President of the Board of Trade (Mr. Reginald Maudling)Under the Distribution of Industry (Industrial Finance) Act, 1958, and the Local Employment Act, 1960, 22 applications have been received from the Isle of Wight, of which four have been recommended, to provide employment for 112 persons; eight have been rejected and ten are still under consideration.
§ Mr. WoodnuttWhile thanking my right hon. Friend for that reply and for the co-operation which the Isle of Wight has received and is receiving from his Ministry, may I ask him if he can give me two assurances, first, that he will not remove the Isle of Wight from the list until he has considered all the applications which he now has in hand and has agreed or rejected them, and, secondly, when that has been done, if the jobs provided do not reduce the unemployment figure to a reasonable figure 1190 he will then be open to receive further applications before removing the island from the list?
§ Mr. MaudlingI think that we have the same objective in mind. I cannot be certain that all the applications will be successful, but if enough of them are it will be right to remove the island from the list. In the meantime, I think it right to refuse further applications until we see how this one is going.