§ Mr. Leadbitterasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the total of financial incentives taken up by industry under Government regional policy schemes in the United Kingdom from 1966 to 1971; and what are the comparable figures for the Northern Region.
§ Mr. Anthony GrantThe information is not available in the terms of the Question, but the table below gives the nearest approximation. The figures for Great Britain and the Northern Region relate to preferential assistance only; because different arrangements apply in Northern Ireland it is not possible to isolate the national element of the assistance and total amounts are shown. Similarly information on payments of assistance under the Local Employment Acts in individual development areas is not readily available, and column (4) gives the estimated value of offers of assistance made in the Northern Region under these Acts, which is not directly comparable with the payments included in column (1). In addition in the three 399W years 1965–66 to 1967–68 the total cost of free depreciation on plant and
GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE TO INDUSTRY IN THE ASSISTED AREAS AND NORTHERN IRELAND Northern Region (£ million) Great Britain (£ million) Northern Ireland (£ million) Regional assistance excluding LEA assistance Offers of LEA assistance Financial Year (1) (2) (3) (4) 1965–66 … … 29.3 11.1 — 14.3 1966–67 … … 44.2 12.8 0.2 15.2 1967–68 … … 154.2 18.5 37.0 12.8 1968–69 … … 272.7 25.2 60.6 17.0 1969–70 … … 302.8 54.6 63.6 33.7 1970–71 … … 309.2 38.2 66.3 24.5