§ 62. Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the total amount of financial assistance given to private industry in the form of loans, grants and other aids, in each of the last 10 years; and what is the estimated comparable figure for each year up to 1975, inclusive.
§ Mr. ChatawayInformation for the financial years 1962–63 to 1972–73 is 229W given below. Estimates for future years are contained in the annual White Papers on public expenditure. Up-to-date figures will be included in the next paper in this series, which will be published in the autumn.
Following is the information:
Figures in £ million at historic prices General financial assistance Investment grants 1962–63 outturn 47 1963–64 outturn 48 1964–65 outturn 55 1965–66 outturn 69 1966–67 outturn 107 1967–68 outturn 167 288 1968–69 outturn 238 437 1969–70 outturn 236 544 1970–71 outturn 270 540 1971–72 outturn (provisional) 248 462 1972–73 estimate 380 360 Notes
"General financial assistance" includes loans to private industry regional assistance—including loans—under the Local Employment Acts, expenditure by the industrial research establishments and research associations, expenditure in support of particular industrial projects—mainly in the field of civil aerospace, investments made by the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation, loans and grants to the NRDC and a wide variety of other measures of support such as technical information services, standards, export promotion, etc. It excludes direct procurement contracts by or on behalf of the Government—for, example, in the defence field All figures are net of receipts and repayments.
Investment grants are shown separately, since they replaced investment allowances which were not a direct charge to Government funds.
Due to changes in departmental responsibilities over the period not all the annual figures are on a strictly comparable basis, and those for the earlier years in particular should be treated as approximate only.