§ Mr. Hoyleasked the Secretary of Stale for Industry what is the total cost of help being given by his Department to private industry in the United Kingdom, the north-west and in north-east Lancashire, respectively; and how many jobs these grants are helping to maintain in each case.
§ Mr. Cryer, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 2nd August 1978], gave the following information:
Since the Industry Act 1972 came into operation, assistance of £1,257 million has been offered for 6,151 projects in the United Kingdom under sections 7 and 8. Of this, £136.5 million has been offered 653W for projects in the north-west region and £8.4 million for projects in north-east Lancashire. Jobs created or maintained by section 7 assistance total 417,000 in the United Kingdom, 115,000 in the north-west region and 10,200 in northeast Lancashire. Regional development grant payments have totalled £1,454 million for the United Kingdom and £210 million for the north-west region. The amount of regional development grant paid to firms in north-east Lancashire is not readily available: nor is the precise number of jobs created or maintained by regional development grants or section 8 assistance since these are not directly job linked.
(a) ASSISTANCE OFFERED IN RESPECT OF ITS STATUS AS AN INTERMEDIATE AREA (Section 7 assistance) Calendar year No. of projects Assistance £M Estimated jobs to be created within 5 years of start of project Estimated jobs to be safeguarded 1973 … … 6 0.4 632 — 1974 … … 5 0.9 448 300 1975 … … 10 0.4 435 149 1976 … … 8 0.6 557 — 1977 … … 16 0.3 289 — Totals: … … 45 2.6 2,361 449
(b) SECTION 8 ASSISTANCE Calendar year No. of projects Assistance 1975 … … … … 1 £204,579 1976 … … … … 1 £ 13,716 1977 … … … … 3 £ 47,394 Totals: … … … … 5 £265,689