§ Mr. Mylesasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will list in the Official Report the total grants made to Scotland from the European Coal and Steel Community; and what estimate he has made of the extent to which these grants have assisted the employment situation in Scotland.
§ Mr. Michael MarshallECSC grants under article 56.2(b) of the ECSC Treaty are given to alleviate for a limited time the effects of redundancy among workers employed on ECSC iron and steel products. In Scotland such grants totalling £3.1 million have been given for nearly 6,000 job losses but they do not help to provide new work. Grants are also given under article 55 to help finance research work in ECSC industries but no breakdown for Scotland is available.
Loans are arranged by the European Commission at favourable interest rates under article 56.2(a) to firms wishing to create new job opportunities in steel and/or coal redundancy areas. Twenty-five projects are going ahead or expected to go ahead in Scotland and these are expected to provide about 900 new jobs. Loans are also given under article 54 to steel producers for industrial projects. No such loans have been given to the small number of private sector firms in Scotland but almost £77 million has been allocated to the British Steel Corporation for use in Scotland, although the corporation has not used this facility since 1977. No information is available as to the net job creation.