§ 15. Mr. Ioan Evansasked the Secretary of State for Wales what further proposals he has to commit additional funds to the Welsh Development Agency; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John MorrisMy hon. Friend will recall that as recently as last December additional resources were allocated to the Welsh Development Agency, amounting to £2.5 million in each of the years 1977–78 and 1978–79. There are no plans to allocate further additional funds to the Agency, whose resources in the current year exceed £34 million, but its budget will be kept under review.
§ Mr. EvansIn view of the improvement in the economy and the Government's desire to get investment into manufacturing industries, will the Secretary of State consider exerting pressure to give additional resources to the National Enterprise Board and the Welsh Development Agency to ensure that this investment is brought forward?
§ Mr. MorrisI know of my hon. Friend's anxiety about the WDA. I can assure him that potential constraints are not at present a limiting factor in the Agency's performance in industrial investment. It has recently announced a land clearance programme of £15 million over three years. That is the largest programme of that sort ever undertaken, it being almost double the previous one which was announced in 1974 of £8 million. Its advance factory programme is about £4 million, which is again larger than the one it announced previously.