§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what indications he now has as to the work programme of the Accounting Standards Board.
§ Mr. RedwoodAs has been indicated in its public bulletins, the Accounting Standards Board has adopted the statements of standard accounting practice extant at 1 August, formulated a policy on statements of recommended accounting practice, and dealt with a number of procedural matters. It is currently engaged in consideration of a number of basic issues of principle as a precursor to work on individual accounting standards.
Table 1 Government expenditure on regional preferential assistance to industry at current prices1 £ million Region 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 Northern 158.9 147.8 145.4 176.6 158.5 129.0 122.6 94.6 136.4 109.2 133.7 117.0 Yorkshire and Humberside 37.4 32.1 52.2 61.6 52.9 35.6 42.5 35.4 41.4 38.6 49.8 32.4 East Midlands3 3.4 4.1 4.6 8.6 13.7 16.9 10.2 8.3 10.5 9.4 8.9 9.5 South West 9.6 10.7 11.5 14.8 16.4 11.9 14.2 12.0 22.7 14.7 14.6 10.6