Foreign Investors (Hansard, 30 November 1992)

§ Mr. Peter Atkinson
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what percentage of United States and Japanese investment in EC countries is currently vested in(a) the United Kingdom and (b) the north-east.

§ Mr. Sainsbury
In 1991 the United Kingdom had 41 per cent. by value of the stock of Japanese investment in the EC (source: Japanese Finance Ministry) and 36 per cent. by value of the stock of United States investment in the EC (source: United States Department of Commerce). It is not possible to say how much is vested by value in the north-east, however, figures from my Department's Invest in Britain Bureau show that by number rather than value since 1981 the north-east has had 53 inward investment projects from Japan from a United Kingdom total of 302 (17.5 per cent.) and 80 projects from the United States against a United Kingdom total of 1,274 (6.3 per cent).
The IBB figures given above are based on information provided by the companies to the Invest in Britain Bureau at the time of the announcement of the decision to invest and take no account of subsequent developments.

§ Mr. Peter Atkinson
To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how many direct investment projects by foreign companies in(a) Britain and (b) the north east are currently in existence; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will list the total number of jobs both directly and indirectly dependent on inward investment in the north-east; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Sainsbury
According to figures produced by my Department's Invest in Britain Bureau, 3,106 projects from foreign-owned companies have come to the United Kingdom since 1981, of which 285 are in the north-east creating or safeguarding 38,158 jobs for the area. The number of jobs created indirectly is unavailable.
The figures given above are based on information provided by the companies to the Invest in Britain Bureau at the time of the announcement of the decision to invest and takes no account of subsequent developments. The number of known closures in the last few years is extremely small.