§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will publish the level of expenditure incurred by his Department in each of the financial years from 1974 to 1979 inclusive, both in total and per head of the population, on the main forms of preferential assistance to industry and on national schemes of assistance under section 8 of the Industry Act
1974–75* 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 English Regions: North (£ million) … … … 62.1 116.7 171.8 154.0 163.9 Per head of population (£) … 19.8 37.3 55.0 49.4 52.9 North West (£ million) … … 55.2 70.5 67.3 69.5 94.9 Per head of population (£) … 8.4 10.7 10.3 10.7 14.6 Yorkshire and Humberside (£ million) … … … … 16.3 24.7 37.8 35.4 48.2 Per head of population (£) … 3.3 5.1 7.7 7.3 9.9 East Midlands (£ million) … 3.6 2.5 3.5 5.2 9.6 Per head of population (£) … 1.0 0.7 0.9 1.4 2.6 West Midlands (£ million) … 1.3 0.5 1.9 5.0 8.2 Per head of population (£) … 0.3 0.1 0.4 1.0 1.6 Eastern (£ million) … … — — 1.3 3.3 6.4 Per head of population (£) … — — 0.7 1.8 3.5 London and South Eastern (£ million) … … … … — — 0.8 2.2 5.1 Per head of population (£) … — — Negligible 0.1 0.3 South West (£ million) … … 5.7 6.8 7.3 11.0 14.8 Per head of population (£) … 1.4 1.6 1.7 2.6 3.4 Scotland (£ million) … … 72.7 136.2 130.6 138.1 151.2 Per head of population (£) … 13.9 26.2 25.1 26.6 29.2 Wales (£ million) … … … 46.6 67.4 76.5 89.1 107.7 Per head of population (£) … 16.9 24.4 27.6 32.2 38.9 * The 1974–75 figures for the English regions exclude expenditure on land and factories They are not, therefore, comparable either with the corresponding figures for Scotland and Wales for the year or with figures for the later years. This includes expenditure on regional development grants, selective financial assistance under sections 7 and 8 of the Industry Act 1972, and on land and factories. Since 1 July 1975 regional selective assistance under section 7 of the Industry Act 1972 to firms in Scotland and Wales has been the responsibility of the Scottish Office and the Welsh Office respectively. Responsibility for the construction of factories in Scotland and Wales passed to the Scottish and Welsh Development Agencies on 15 December 1975 and 1 January 1976 respectively. Expenditure under section 8 of the Industry Act 1972 excludes payments to individual firms and payments under the offshore supplies interest relief scheme, as it is not always possible to allocate payments made in these cases to specific regions or areas. Expenditure under section 7 of the Industry Act 1972 excludes payments of £4.3 million in 1977–78 and
236W1972 for each of the economic regions of Great Britain.
§ Mr. David MitchellThis information is not available in terms of the economic regions of Great Britain, and is therefore presented by Department of Industry regions. Expenditure, total and per head of population in the years specified, on the main forms of regional preferential assistance to industry and on national schemes under section 8 of the Industry Act 1972 is estimated as follows:
£52.0 million in 1978–79 to the Ford motor company, which were shared between the North-Western region of England and Wales, but which cannot be allocated specifically.
All figures are at outturn prices. They are gross and include payments of RDGs and selective financial assistance to the nationalised industries.
Aside from expenditure on land and factories, there is no predetermined allocation of regional preferential expenditure between separate areas or regions. Expenditure under such schemes depends, therefore, on the level of applications from eligible firms within the areas or regions concerned.