HC Deb 11 December 1968 vol 775 cc125-7W
22. Mr. Hall-Davis

asked the President of the Board of Trade what is his esti- mate of the amount of investment which can be directly attributed to the temporary increase in investment grants; and what effect he estimates the termination of the increase will have on investment

Mr. Dell

Neither influence can be separately measured.

46. Mr. Cronin

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will consider reducing investment grants by substantially more than the proposed reductions to 20 per cent. and 40 per cent. which he intends to make on 1st January, 1969.

Mr. Dell

No. The rates will return to 20 per cent. and 40 per cent. on 1st January, 1969, as announced.

54. Mr. Bruce-Gardyne

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will seek to amend the Industrial Development Act to give him discretion to continue payment of investment grants on machinery bought on hire purchase by a manufacturing company and transferred to an operating subsidiary without change of use or location before the instalment payments are completed.

Mr. Dell

No. I am keeping this aspect of the present legislation under review but I am not at present satisfied that an amendment of the sort the hon. Member envisages would be appropriate.

75. Mr. Hannan

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the grants described in paragraph 54 of his Department's pamphlet on Investment Grants are made available only to manufacturing industries and processes.

Mr. Dell

Investment grants are available on equipment for the protection against fire of premises or property used for carrying on any qualifying industrial process or related scientific research. They may thus be paid to the extractive and construction, as well as to the manufacturing industries.

76. Mr. Hannan

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many applications for grants he has received from England and Wales and Scotland respectively, for fire fighting and other protection equipment as described in paragraph 54 of his Department's pamphlet, Investment Grants, a Guide for Industry; and how many have been granted in each case.

Mr. Dell

This information could not be provided except at disproportionate cost of time and effort since it would necessitate the identification and extraction of many individual items from 180,000 claims covering all assets on which investment grants have been claimed and paid.