§ 4. Mr. Rossasked the President of the Board of Trade the number and floor space of factories authorised in the Scottish Development Area from December, 1951, to the latest available date; and what were the comparable figures for the same period of 1950–51.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftAccording to the latest available information, the number of Industrial Development Certificates granted by the Board of Trade in the Scottish Development Area for the periods mentioned by the hon. Member is as follows:
Number Area '000 sq. ft. Projects of 5,000 square feet and over for new factories and extensions to existing factories approved in the period 1st January to 30th September of each of the following years— 1950 51 1,534 1951 46 2,129 1952 35 1,002 These figures exclude projects which are known to have lapsed.
§ 5. Mr. Rossasked the President of the Board of Trade how many factories 70W in the Scottish Industrial Estates, subsidiaries of non-Scottish firms, have ceased operations in the last 18 months.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftWithin the last eighteen months, four firms which are all subsidiaries of, or were otherwise associated with, companies operating outside Scotland, have ceased production in factories administered by Scottish Industrial Estates Ltd. We have succeeded in finding new tenants for two of these factories and the number employed in these two does not fall far short of the number previously employed in all four factories. The two remaining factories represent less than one-third of 1 per cent. of the total space administered by the Estate Company, but we are continuing our efforts to find tenants for them.