§ Mr. Porterasked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total amount of European Economic Community assistance given to the Merseyside area in respect of services connected with employment in each of the years 1976–77 to 1980–81.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe European social fund and the European Coal and Steel Community provide assistance in respect of schemes in the United Kingdom connected with employment. The amount of assistance allocated in the calendar year 1980 was as follows: 251W
£ million European Social Fund 135 ECSC readaptation grants 24 ECSC reconversion loans 92 Total 251 European social fund allocations were in respect of training and employment schemes, European Coal and Steel Community readaptation grants for redundancy payments and retraining schemes, and European Coal and Steel Community reconversion loans for projects which will employ redundant coal and steel workers. Government policy is to maximise United Kingdom benefit from these Community sources.
Merseyside receives special consideration under various rules of the social fund, especially in those areas of intervention covering young people and regions of high unemployment. However, because allocations to the United Kingdom under the social fund and the Coal and Steel Community are in respect of schemes which operate nationally or in a number of parts of the country, I regret that it is not possible to identify amounts of aid allocated to particular regions or countries.