HC Deb 10 February 1988 vol 127 cc352-3
18. Mr. Win Griffiths

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much in real terms was spent on all aspects of Government regional aid policy in the financial years ended in April 1979 and April 1986 in (a) Bridgend, (b) Wales and (c) each of the standard planning regions of the United Kingdom.

Mr. Atkins

Total expenditure in the United Kingdom at constant 1986–87 prices on the main schemes of regional assistance in 1978–79 and 1985–86 was £1,377–8 million and £784.7 million respectively. With permission, Mr. Speaker, I will arrange for the full set of figures requested to be published in the Official Report.

Mr. Griffiths

I am sure the Minister will agree that it is absolutely astounding that at a time when unemployment was more than doubling, regional aid should have been virtually halved. Will the Government now make a commitment to reinstate regional spending in real terms so that areas with high unemployment, such as Wales, Scotland and the north, can receive an additional boost to attract new jobs?

Mr. Atkins

For the ensuing year regional aid expenditure will be comparable with what we spent last year, albeit spread into a variety of different initiatives and regional assistance.

Following are the figures: Expenditure at constant prices (1986–87=100) on the main schemes of regional preferential assistance in the financial years 1978–79 and 1985–86 in (a) Bridgend, (b) Wales and (c) each of the standard planning regions of the United Kingdom were as follows:
£ million
1978–79 51985–86
Northern 311.1 97.4
North-West 172.5 88.6
South-West 18.5 12.2
East Midlands 8.4 8.6
West Midlands — 5.7
Yorkshire and Humberside 73.3 35.4
England 583.8 4265.8
Wales 2265.1 149.1
Scotland 303.9 210–0
Northern Ireland1 225.0 159.8
United Kingdom 1,377.8 784.7
Bridgend 2 362.3 38.3
Notes:
Schemes included in the reply are regional developmemt grants, regional selective assistance, expenditure on land and factories by the English Industrial Estates Corporation, the Scottish and Welsh Development Agencies, the Development Board for Rural Wales and the Highland and Islands Development Board, and grants by these boards.
1Northern Ireland has a different range of financial incentives. The items included under the expenditure data in the table are the equivalents of the schemes listed above for GB.
2 Includes payments of £26 million to one project in Bridgend (£50.6 million at 1986–87 prices).
3 Excludes Welsh Development Agency payments, which are not readily available.
4 Expenditure on business improvement services and the exchange risk guarantee scheme (elements of regional selective assistance) in England in 1985–86 cannot be broken down by region. Hence the total shown for England is greater than the sum of the figures for the individual regions.
5 Expenditure on RDG in 1985–86 was reduced by the four-month moratorium on payments under the original RDG scheme introduced in January 1985, which deferred payments into 1986–87.