§ 29. Mr. Milneasked the Minister of Technology if he will give details of the average lengths of time taken by firms to move into development districts in the North-East and elsewhere following finalising of arrangements and agreements in regard to grants and loans by the various Government Departments concerned.
§ Mr. VarleyThis information is not available. Firms do not necessarily await a decision on applications for assistance under the Local Employment Acts before starting projects in the development areas; and investment grants towards expenditure on plant and machinery for 810 such projects are not paid until after the expenditure has been incurred.
§ Mr. MilneIs my hon. Friend aware that many of the jobs listed for the Blyth constituency and elsewhere are delayed because one or two firms in particular are dragging their feet on this matter? Will he see that in the negotiations with those firms about development grants the speeding-up of the timetable between the payment of the grant and the actual employment of the people by the firms is looked into very closely, indeed? This would help the unemployment figures considerably.
§ Mr. VarleyOur information is that the position varies from case to case. In handling these cases we keep that matter under constant review. If my hon. Friend knows of particular cases, and if he lets me have details, I shall look into them.