§ Mr. Michael Forsythasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will list for each district and islands 29W authority area within the area covered by the Highlands and Islands Development Board and for each district authority area adjacent to it the average level of unemployment expressed as a percentage, in each of the past 10 years;
(2) if he will list for each district and island authority area within the area covered by the Highlands and Islands Development Board the amount of money in the form of grants and loans that the board has spent in each of the past 10 years;
(3) if he will list the public bodies whose functions and responsibilities overlap with those of the Highlands and Islands Development Board.
§ Mr. John MacKayI shall reply to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Michael Forsythasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the total amount of money spent by the Highlands and Islands Development Board in each of the past 10 years (a) in actual terms and (b) at constant prices based on 1983–84.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe board has provided the following information:
1974–75 £ 1975–76 £ 1976–77 £ 1977–78 £ 1978–79 £ 1979–80 £ 1980–81 £ 1981–82 £ Region/Islands Borders 2,290 3,100 3,410 3,740 4,360 4,840 6,280 5,970 Central 2,510 3,050 3,650 4,280 5,100 5,520 5,950 6,630 Dumfries and Galloway 2,430 3,270 3,210 3,830 4,270 5,120 5,990 7,990 Fife 2,540 3,350 3,810 3,930 4,410 4,890 5,690 6,890 Grampian 2,550 3,240 3,450 3,930 5,080 5,160 6,960 7,040 Highland 2,390 2,910 3,200 3,870 4,360 5,410 6,030 6,480 Lothian 2,530 3,250 3,760 4,070 4,360 5,200 6,170 7,130 Strathclyde 2,390 3,090 3,340 3,850 4,370 5,210 6,100 6,660 Tayside 2,460 3,100 3,430 3,680 4,450 5,220 6,510 6,510 Islands 1,840 2,620 2,620 3,360 4,840 4,690 5,700 7,740 Notes:
1. Except for 1974–75 the estimates relate to total income before deductions; for 1974–75 the figures are after deductions.
2. The information is based on tax units i.e. a married couple is counted as one unit; it does not cover non-taxable income, nor those where income is not high enough to be taxable.
3. Because of the large sampling errors involved, the estimates for individual years should not be used directly; estimates for a run of years can be used to estimate relative income levels of individual regions.
§ Mr. Michael Forsythasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list for each of the past 10 years the number of advance factories in the ownership of the Highlands and Islands Development Board, their aggregate square footage and the percentage of that area that was unlet.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe board has provided the following information:
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Number of units Cumulative square footage Percentage unlet at 31 March Year ending 31 March 1975 31 200,857 — 1976 43 256,263 — 1977 57 359,972 — 1978 77 511,278 — 1979 95 584,334 5 1980 114 685,794 4 1981 144 785,253 11.4
Actual expenditure £ Expenditure at 1983 prices £ 1974–75 6,575,031 20,290,546 1975–76 8,366,241 20,781,743 1976–77 9,445,730 20,138,296 1977–78 12,800,567 23,553,043 1978–79 15,615,069 26,530,002 1979–80 21,378,193 32,045,911 1980–81 23,713,776 30,140,209 1981–82 27,286,869 30,997,883 1982–83 32,667,567 34,202,943 1983–84* 38,138,520 38,138,520 *Provisional.
§ Mr. Michael Forsythasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the average income levels for each of the past 10 years in (a) the area covered by the Highlands and Islands Development Board and (b) the areas of the regional and island authorities.
§ Mr. Allan StewartAvailable estimates of average annual incomes from the annual surveys of personal incomes are given below. Estimates for these areas for years prior to 1974–75, anf for the area covered by the Highlands and Islands Development Board, could only be provided at disproportionate cost; estimates for years subsequent to 1981–82 are not yet available.
Number of units Cumulative square footage Percentage unlet at 31 March 1982 182 902,871 8.7 1983 234 1,037,625 12.9 1984 311 1,192,832 22.5
§ Mr. Michael Forsythasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the industrial and other premises built by the Highlands and Islands Development Board which have never been occupied.
§ Mr. John MacKayThis information is set out in the following table. Of the 61 premises listed 51 were completed in the past 18 months.
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Location Number of units Golspie 3 Helmsdale 2 Dingwall 2
Location Number of units Alness 5 Tain 1 Invergordon 3 Lochgilphead 6 Inverary 2 Campbeltown 3 Dunoon 5 Fort William 17 North Ballachulish 2 Portnahaven 1 Oban 1 Foyers 2 Nairn 3 Strontian 3
§ Mr. Michael Forsythasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the industrial and other premises built by the Highlands and Islands Development Board which are currently unoccupied.
§ Mr. John MacKayThis information is set out in the following table:
Location Number of industrial and other units Lerwick 1 Wick 1 Durness 1 Golspie 4 Helmsdale 2 Dornoch 1 Dingwall 3 Alness 5 Tain 1 Invergordon 3 Lochgilphead 8 Inverary 2 Campbeltown 4 Dunoon 6 Fort William 24 North Ballachulish 2 Portnahaven 1 Oban 1 Foyers 2 Inverness 8 Dalcross Airport 2 Nairn 5 Strontian 3 Breasclete 2
§ Mr. Michael Forsythasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the industrial and other premises built with financial assistance by the Highlands and Islands Development Board which have never been occupied.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe Highlands and Islands Development Board has advised that all such premises have at some time been occupied.
§ Mr. Michael Forsythasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the industrial and other premises built with financial assistance by the Highlands and Islands Development Board which are currently unoccupied.
§ Mr. John MacKayThis is a matter for the board and my right hon. Friend is asking the chairman of the board to write to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.