HC Deb 05 June 1992 vol 208 cc674-6W
Mr. Llwyd

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make it his policy to revise the current companies legislation to(a) ensure the granting of speaking rights to proxies and (b) require each major company to include on its board of directors an individual whose responsibilities specifically cover equal opportunities.

Mr. Neil Hamilton

There are no proposals to extend the speaking rights of proxies beyond the present ones contained in the Companies Act 1985. In the case of a private company a proxy has under section 372 of the Companies Act 1985 the same right as a member to speak at a meeting; a public company can if it wishes to grant speaking rights to proxies through its articles of association; nor is there any intention to require companies to have a director whose responsibilities specifically cover equal opportunities, as the directors of the company all share responsibility for ensuring that the company complies with its statutory obligations on equal

Regional financial assistance
£ million
1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92
DA IA DA IA DA IA DA IA DA IA DA IA DA IA DA IA
East Midlands 9.7 1.7 8.0 0.8 10.2 0.5 8.6 0.8 8.2 0.6 8.8 0.6 5.1 0.4 2.2 0.4
Northern 106.1 1.1 84.4 1.1 116.0 4.4 84.2 2.5 113.8 3.6 97.6 2.2 63.4 3.3 45.3 1.2
North West 93.1 3.1 72.1 4.3 114.6 6.0 58.4 7.1 57.6 10.0 50.6 10.8 39.0 8.4 29.0 8.7
South West 11.8 0.3 10.6 0.8 19.9 0.9 9.2 2.2 8.1 3.2 5.9 2.7 3.3 2.9 3.2 3.5
West Midlands — — — 6.2 — 10.4 — 18.8 — 25.2 — 19.8 — 18.0 — 8.7
Yorkshire and Humberside 32.0 6.3 28.7 4.8 30.0 7.8 21.3 10.8 31.5 9.3 13.9 8.5 12.4 6.8 5.4 7.0
England 252.7 12.5 203.8 18.0 290.7 30.0 181.7 42.2 219.2 51.9 176.8 44.6 123.2 39.8 85.1 29.5
Scotland 137.3 3.6 150.9 4.7 199.7 5.9 108.8 7.5 107.5 7.4 96.0 6.3 102.6 10.4 69.2 9.4
Wales 110.4 1.7 104.4 2.5 112.2 4.1 75.4 6.3 82.9 12.2 49.1 16.6 37.5 16.3 49.5 21.9
Great Britain 500.4 17.8 459.1 25.2 602.6 40.0 365.9 56.0 409.6 71.5 321.9 67.5 263.3 66.5 203.8 60.8

Note: The table comprises expenditure on Regional Development Grants, Regional Selective Assistance and Regional Enterprise Grants.

Mr. Milburn

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what level of regional financial assistance was made available to each of the standard United Kingdom regions in each year since 1978–79,(a) at net prices and (b) at 1978–79 prices.

Table 1
Government expenditure on regional financial 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 1990–91 1991–92
Northern 158.8 151.2 150.8 178.3 159.7 130.2 125.5 96.6 137.3 109.3 134.1 117.0 85.0 63.8
Yorkshire and Humberside 37.4 34.1 52.4 62.1 53.5 36.3 44.3 36.4 41.9 38.8 50.2 32.4 29.4 18.2
East Midlands 3.4 4.4 4.7 9.4 13.8 17.5 11.4 8.8 10.7 9.4 8.8 9.5 5.5 2.6
South West 9.6 11.1 12.5 14.9 16.6 12.1 14.6 12.3 23.0 14.8 14.7 10.7 9.0 8.3
West Midlands2 3 0.2 0.1 0.1 — — — — 7.1 10.6 19.3 26.2 19.9 18.0 8.7
North West 5114.1 596.1 5136.5 5174.9 5124.8 5104.2 106.4 87.5 129.6 79.0 82.3 74.3 57.5 49.5
England 323.5 297.0 357.0 439.6 368.4 300.3 302.2 248.7 353.1 270.6 316.3 263.8 204.4 151.1
Wales 132.1 112.9 175.3 197.5 182.1 120.0 147.5 138.4 150.7 132.4 148.2 131.7 133.7 153.9
Scotland 156.1 135.2 194.5 232.5 369.4 228.6 187.1 197.0 242.4 153.2 151.2 144.6 159.1 135.4
Great Britain 611.7 545.1 726.8 869.6 919.9 648.9 636.8 584.1 746.2 556.2 615.7 540.1 497.2 440.4
Northern Ireland 102.6 108.3 142.5 115.7 153.6 115.0 141.5 158.7 146.7 127.2 125.9 124.7 131.1 137.7
United Kingdom 714.3 653.4 869.3 985.3 1,073.5 763.9 778.3 742.8 892.9 683.4 741.6 664.8 628.3 578.1

opportunities as well as on the other legislative requirements that apply to it. There is nothing to stop a company allocating specific responsibility for equal opportunities to a particular director on a voluntary basis.