§ Mr. Cormackasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what new measures he proposes to deal with the economic problems of Northern Ireland, with particular regard to the need to create more employment.
§ Mr. David HowellThe following is a summary of new Government measures designed to support existing activity, to encourage new investment, and to create more jobs quickly. In manufacturing industry, rates of capital grant for plant and buildings are being revised from today. In general, tax allowances will be computed on the gross cost of assets purchased on or after 22nd March, 1972. The new arrangements represent a substantial increase in help and ensure that assistance to industry in Northern Ireland will compare favourably with that in the special development areas. There will be a further expansion of schemes of industrial training, in particular for workers who might otherwise become redundant and for the young unemployed. Substantial grants will be available towards the cost of employing full-time security staff in commercial and industrial premises which are large enough to warrant full time security measures. Employers in the service industries, including construction, will receive refunds of all payments of SET until the ending of the tax next year. There will be a six months' extension of the rate relief scheme for certain city centre businesses covering the second half of 1972–73.
In order to create employment quickly, particularly for the unskilled, it is proposed to step up the activity of the urban and rural improvement campaign 368W and enterprise Young Ulster, and to create by an Order in Council in the next session a new statutory board to undertake direct labour works concerned with amenity and other projects.
For a limited period grants will be available for environmental improvement work by industry and commerce, and at enhanced rates for similar improvements on land and property in the countryside. Local authorities will be reimbursed in full if they engage additional labour on cleansing and eyesore removal work.
Certain building projects will be advanced to start in the next two years, including new proposals for community and sports centres in the needy areas.
In agriculture, a valuable contribution to the relief of the current unemployment problem can be made by helping to create and maintain employment on farms and in industries ancillary to farming through improved viability and efficiency. Details of proposed help will be given by the Ministry of Agriculture for Northern Ireland as soon as possible.
The bulk of the expenditure on these measures will fall between now and March, 1974, and will involve an additional sum estimated to be about £30 million in this period over and above existing expenditure plans. However, a number of these measures will also involve further expenditure after March, 1974. Details are being announced in Belfast today.