§ Mr. Wrigglesworthasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will list the schemes his Department provides to assist industry and commerce.
§ Mr. ButcherThe main assistance measures currently provided by the Department of Industry are:
- (a) General support arrangements under section 8 of the Industry Act 1972 for assisting large projects;
- (b) Six schemes offering assistance under section 8 of the Industry Act as follows:
- (i) Flexible manufacturing—including robotics—scheme;
- (ii) Coal firing scheme;
- (iii) Private sector steel;
- (iv) Microelectronics industry support programme;
- (v) Computer aided design and test equipment support;
- (vi) Small firms loans guarantee scheme.
- (c) Support for innovation; a general support facility for promoting research and development: Special arrangements within this facility include:
- (i) Microelectronics application project;
- (ii) Information technology;
- (iii) Fibre optics and optoelectronics scheme;
- (iv) Electronic computer aided design, manufacture and test;
- (v) Computer aided design and computer aided manufacture;
- (vi) Software products scheme;
- (vii) Advisory services such as the manufacturing advisory service for small and medium-sized companies.
- (d) Regional support under the Industry Act in the form of regional development grants and selective assistance using powers under section 7 of the Act which include:
- (i) Office and service industries scheme;
- (ii) In-plant training scheme;
- (iii) Exchange risk guarantee scheme.
- (e) Other assistance measures include:
- (i) Shipbuilding intervention fund;
- (ii) The Shipbuilding redundancies payments scheme;
- (iii) Loan guarantee and interest support schemes for shipbuilding;
- (iv) Support for redundant steel workers under ECSC's iron and steel employees re-adaption benefits scheme;
- (v) Launch aid under the Civil Aviation Act 1949;
- (vi) Mineral exploration grant scheme;
- (vii) A small firms service offering information and counselling.