§ Mr. Ellisasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he has any further moves to announce in connection with the dispersal from Central London of parts of his Department.
§ Mr. MasonI have decided to disperse some of the work of the Board's
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Development Areas* Cost of Government Assistance to Industry† Estimated Populations‡ Average Assistance per head of Population (Financial Years) (Financial Years) 1960–64 (4 years) 1964–69 (5 years) Mid 1964 Mid 1968 1960–64 1964–69 (to nearest £ million) (Thousands) £ £ Scottish … … … 64 262 4,722 4,709 4 11 Northern … … … 22 238 3,388 3,428 2 14 Welsh … … … 8 110 1,922 1,940 1 11 Merseyside … … … 21 156 1,703 1,699 3 18 South Western … … … 1 13 422 439 1 6 * These Areas were designated under the Industrial Development Act 1966. Prior to their creation assistance under the Local Employment Acts and other regional development measures, including the facility of free depreciation, were available in Development Districts. (Northern Ireland is not a Development Area but is covered by separate though similar legislation. Questions about measures under this legislation are within the responsibility of the Government of Northern Ireland.) † The question refers to the value and value per head of population of all development area grants and assistance during the periods 1959–64 and 1964–69, but figures are only available for the financial years 1960–64 (four years) and 1964–69 (five years). Figures for a number of items of public expenditure are either not available on a development area basis or are not applicable for every year in the periods covered; and the figures given in the table only cover the following items: assistance offered under Local Employment Acts during the whole of the stated periods; investment grants paid in 1967–68 and 1968–69 (including the regional differential element); selective employment premium and the regional employment premium for their introduction in September, 1966 and September, 1967 respectively; and assistance provided by the Highlands and Islands Development Board since its establishment in November, 1965. No regional breakdown is available of the value of free depreciation and investment allowances available in the former Development Districts. ‡ These figures can only be approximations, since development areas are defined by employment exchange areas whilst population estimates are made by local authority areas. Finance and Insolvency Divisions, at present undertaken in Central London to South Monmouthshire, in the mid-1970's.
The financial work is concerned mainly with the payment of wages and salaries to the Board's staff and the insolvency work is concerned with the audit of the accounts of official receivers, trustees in bankruptcy and liquidators in voluntary liquidation.
The dispersal of the finance and insolvency work will follow the completion of the transfer of the Board's Business [...]atistics Office to the same area. The number of staff to be transferred with the finance and bankruptcy work will be about 150. In addition, the office will recruit some 300 clerical staff locally.