§ 77. Mr. Bruce-Gardyneasked the President of the Board of Trade what was the value and number of applications for investment grants received from firms in Scotland to the latest available date.
§ Mr. DarlingA total of 3,081 applications to the value of £45½ million had been received by 7th July, 1967.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneCan the Minister of State tell the House how that information compares with the rate of investment grant the Department expected, and with the rate of investment allowances over a similar period while that system was in operation?
§ Mr. DarlingIt is difficult to give an estimate in reply to the last part of the hon. Member's supplementary question. On the first part, in the first quarter, applications were running below what we estimated and, at the present time, they are running much above what we estimated. We believe that one of the reasons is the smaller firms who make only one application a year to cover a whole range of investments for which they have provided.