§ Mr. Dewarasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish a table showing the total numbers of applications for grant-aid made to the Scottish Development Agency in each year since 1979 and the number and percentage of these which were accepted in each year.
§ Mr. Rifkind[pursuant to his reply, 6 July 1987, c. 33]Applications for grant-aid under the development of rural area workshops, programme for rural initiatives and developments and the local enterprise grants for urban projects (the agency's current recognised schemes of grant assistance), together with development grants to, for example, enterprise trusts, the training and employment grant scheme and better business scheme, are as set out in 573W the table. Details of applications before 1983–84, prior to the inception of the grant schemes, are not available, but it is understood these were few in number.
Approved Year Applications Number per cent. 1983–84 1,169 208 17.8 1984–85 1,611 276 17.1 1985–86 7,857 2,120 27.0 1986–87 11,671 3,455 29.6 The apparent high percentage rate of applications refused is accounted for by the large number of inquiries for assistance under TEGS which do not result in formal applications because they do not meet the geographical, unemployment or age criteria. A number are also turned down because the firm is unable to provide training of the desired quality or is already in receipt of public sector assistance.