§ Mrs. Wiseasked the Secretary of State for Industry what public accountability there will be in connection with the financial assistance now to be given by his Department to Lucas Aerospace.
§ Mr. Les HuckfieldMy Department will account to Parliament for this expenditure in the normal way.
§ Mrs. Wiseasked the Secretary of State for Industry whether he will be signing a planning agreement with Lucas Aerospace.
§ Mr. Les HuckfieldI would welcome a planning agreement with the company, but there are at present no plans for such an agreement.
§ Mrs. Wiseasked the Secretary of State for Industry what persons he consulted, apart from the management of Lucas Aerospace, before deciding to make available new and large sums of public money to the company.
§ Mr. Les HuckfieldMy right hon. Friend the Minister of State met both the management of the Lucas Group and Lucas Aerospace and Mr. K. Gill of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions to discuss the Liverpool and Bradford projects. The usual consultation procedures under which the Industrial Development Advisory Board gives my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State its views on all major applications for selective financial assistance were followed for these projects.
§ Mrs. Wiseasked the Secretary of State for Industry how many people are now 94W employed in Liverpool by Lucas Aerospace; and how many people will be employed by them in Liverpool in two years' time after receipt of grants and other assistance from his Department.
§ Mr. Les HuckfieldLucas Aerospace now employs 1,780 people in Liverpool, of whom 1,450 are at its Victor Works and 330 are at its Netherton factory. On 16th March it announced the proposed closure of its Victor Works to be effected over a period of two years from August 1978. The new Lucas factory will be built at Huyton. It is planned to take two years to build. However, the selective financial assistance for Huyton will be paid over a longer period than two years. The Huyton factory will employ at least 500 people. When it is completed Lucas Aerospace will vacate its Victor Works. Lucas intends to continue to operate its Netherton factory.
§ Mrs. Wiseasked the Secretary of State for Industry how many new jobs are being created as a consequence of the financial assistance from public funds which is to be given to Lucas Aerospace; what sum of money is involved and in what forms it is being given; and what is the total cost per new job created.
§ Mr. Les HuckfieldThe projects announced by Lucas Aerospace on 12th June will create at least 500 jobs in Liverpool and at least 400 jobs in Bradford. The financial assistance for the Liverpool project is:
- (a) selective financial assistance in the form of an interest relief grant of £2.2 million; and
- (b) regional development grants estimated at £890,000.
In addition my Department is to build a factory at Huyton at a cost of up to £3 million. This factory will be leased to Lucas Aerospace on a full repairing and insuring lease. Lucas will be given a rent free period of five years and will then pay the full market value rental as assessed by the district valuer. For the Bradford project my Department has agreed in principle to build a factory at a cost of up to £2 million. The initial rent free period will be two years, but otherwise the conditions will be similar to the Huyton factory.
The cost per job concept is applied only to selective financial assistance. This will amount to £2.2 million for at least 95W 500 jobs, giving a cost per job in grant value of up to £4,400.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Industry of the 500 jobs to be created in the Lucas Aerospace plant at Huyton referred to in his answer to the right hon. Member for Huyton (Sir H. Wilson), Official Report, column 354, 12th June, how many are new jobs.
§ Mr. Les HuckfieldLucas Aerospace announced the proposed closure of its Victor Works at Liverpool on 16th March and the transfer to Birmingham of the work done there. The project to build a new factory at Huyton will therefore create at least 500 jobs in the Liverpool area which as my hon. Friend will appreciate is an area in great need of employment-creating projects.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Industry on which Vote the public money payable to Lucas Aerospace announced on Monday 12th June will be borne.
§ Mr. Les HuckfieldThe expenditure will form part of the Vote for Regional Support and Regeneration (Class IV Vote 1) Sections A, B and C in 1978–79 and subsequent years.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Industry if the assistance to Lucas Aerospace announced on 12th June has been approved by the Industrial Development Advisory Board.
§ Mr. Les HuckfieldThe advice to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State by the Industrial Development Advisory Board on all applications for selective financial assistance is confidential to him and is disclosed only with the agreement of the Board.