§ 7. Mr. W. Hamiltonasked the President of the Board of Trade how much financial assistance has been given or offered to industrialists wishing to come to Fife under the terms of the Local Employment Act.
§ Mr. N. MacphersonI regret that I cannot give this information, since the offers made to individual firms could be deduced from it. Such offers are confidential. But I can say that the projects in question are expected to provide over 800 jobs.
§ Mr. HamiltonCan the hon. Gentleman say how many jobs have already been created since the inception of the Local Employment Act and as a direct result of it? Can he undertake to make representations to the President of the Board of Trade to pay particular attention to an application which is currently under discussion and about which I saw him last week? The Minister recognises, does he not, that the firm in question had what was, on the surface, an extremely attractive offer from Ireland 214 and that if the Board of Trade is not more forthcoming than it has been hitherto with this application, the firm might well be lost to my area, which would be a serious blow to an area which is suffering from a decline in the mining industry?
§ Mr. MacphersonIn reply to the first part of the question, the jobs so far amount to about 1,100 or 1,200—
§ Mr. HamiltonNo.
§ Mr. Macpherson—including the announcement made at the weekend. With regard to the second part of the question and the case about which the hon. Member was good enough to come to see me, the company can raise the matter again with the Board of Trade Advisory Committee. The actual building grant, however, is, of course, based on the terms of the Act.