§ Mr. David Atkinsonasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will give an estimate of the number of redundant workers that have been retained as a result of the payments from European Economic Community funds;
(2) if he will give an estimate of the number of new jobs created in the United Kingdom since May 1979 as a result of European Economic Community funds.
§ Mr. AlisonI regret that the information is not available in the form requested. However, it is clear that European Community funds make a significant contribution to the level of training and employment in this country.
The European social fund provides grants towards training and employment schemes. The European Coal and Steel Community provides reconversion loans for projects which will employ redundant coal and steel workers, and readaptation grants for redundancy payments and retraining schemes for former coal and steel workers. The European Investment Bank and the European regional development fund provide finance—in the form of loans and grants—for investment and development projects in the assisted areas.
59WThe amount of assistance allocated to the United Kingdom since 1979 has been as follows:
£ million 1979 1980 1981 European Social Fund grants 130 135 141 European Coal and Steel Community Reconversion loans 6 57 *— European Coal and Steel Community Readaptation grants 15 24 *— European Investment Bank Loans 71 90 *— European Regional Development Fund grants 163 153 †154 TOTAL 385 459 *— * Not yet available. † January-October 1981.