§ Mr. Banksasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the companies in Northern Ireland in receipt of Government loans or grants during the period of the last three years, the amounts concerned, and the reported profits or losses for the last three years of the companies concerned.
§ Mr. ConcannonIt is not the practice of the Department of Commerce to disclose information about loan or grant assistance provided to individual companies. While information about profits or losses is obtained by the Department in order to assist the proper administra-242W tion of the Department's schemes of assistance, in many cases the basis of receipt is confidential and the information could not be disclosed without breaching this confidence.
The total grant and loan assistance given under the Industries Development Acts (Northern Ireland) 1966 and 1971, as amended by the Industries Development (Northern Ireland) Order 1976, for the last three years was as follows:
Grant Loan £ £ Year ended 31st March 1975 21,285,791 8,269,183 Year ended 31st March 1976 20,078,209 7,529,486 Year ended 31st March 1977 19,985,780 1,643,583