§ Sir Alex Fletcherasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much support from public funds of all kinds has been made available to manufacturing industry since the fiscal year 1978–79.
§ Mr. Butcher[pursuant to his reply, 2 March c. 517]: The information could be provided only at disproportionate cost since my Department does not record for all its schemes the amount of support going to different industrial sectors. However, it may be estimated that, in the eight year period from 1 April 1978 to 30 March 1986, the Department of Trade and Industry spent about £9,000 million on support for manufacturing industry. This figure excludes loans from the national loans fund and public dividend capital provided to nationalised industries.