§ Mr. Newtonasked the Secretary of State for Industry (1) if he will give figures showing financial advances made to firms under Section 7 of the Industry Act since 1st March 1974;
(2) how many offers of financial assistance have been made to firms under Section 7 of the Industry Act since 1st March 1974; and what were the sums involved for each individual firm;
(3) how many applications have been received by his Department for financial assistance under Section 7 of the Industry Act since 1st March 1974.
Mr. HeiferBetween 1st March and 30th September 1974, 876 applications for regional selective assistance excluding 175W shipbuilding, were received under Section 7 of the Industry Act. In the same period 593 offers totalling £41 million were made in respect of 400 projects which are expected to cost £380 million and provide 45,000 new jobs. Payments of regional selective assistance in the same period totalled nearly £12 million. I regret that for reasons of commercial confidentiality I am not able to list all the firms to which offers were made. However, the names of companies which receive offers of £10,000 or more after 31st July will be published in the journal "Trade and Industry" in the quarter after the first payment is made in accordance with the arrangements the Secretary of State for Industry announced to the House on that date.