§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the total amount of financial support for capital investment provided by (i) the United Kingdom Government and (ii) the European Union to 3W (a) the manufacturing sector, (b) manufacturing companies established by inward investment and (c) the textiles and clothing sector in the last five years. [86861]
§ Mr. BattleFinancial support for capital investment is provided in various forms, including through grants, guarantees, tax allowances and general industrial support. One of the main programmes is regional selective assistance which over the last five years in Great Britain has provided offers of grant of £1.6 billion to the manufacturing sector as a whole, of which £935 million was offered to foreign-owned companies and £51 million to the textiles and clothing sector.
Many other UK Government and EU programmes provide direct or indirect financial support for capital investment but information on the total is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.