§ Mr. HuttonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how many action teams his Department has established in Great Britain since 1987; what were their budgets in 1991–92; and what are their proposed budgets for 1992–93;
406W(2) what was the budget for his Department's action team in Barrow-in-Furness in 1991–92; and what is the proposed budget for the year 1992–93.
§ Mr. Sainsbury[holding answer 19 June 1992]: This Department has established one action team since 1987—the Cumbria action team, set up in 1991.
There is no budget as such. The schemes which the action team targets are national or regional in nature and are not costed on geographical basis. The action team is an inter-departmental body, led by DTI. The running costs of the action team fall to the cross-participating departments. The DTI element of running costs for the Cubria based operation—which cover both the Barrow and Cockermouth offices—is estimated at some £65,000 in the current financial year compared to £56,000 for the nine months in which the team was operation in 1991–92.
The Department has also provided support for other initiatives set up by local communities to deal with major closures or redundancies.