§ Mr. Masonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will give the total sums of money annually being spent in Government aid to the special development areas, development areas and intermediate areas; and how much special financial assistance within the Industry Act has already been committed in the regions.
§ Mr. Anthony GrantEstimated net expenditure by the Department of Trade408W and Industry on aid to the assisted areas as set out in Command Paper 5178 "Public Expenditure to 1976–77" is:
£ million 1972–73 … … … 133.2 1973–74 … … … 337.3 1974–75 … … … 317.5 1975–76 … … … 329 1976–77 … … … 340 These figures comprise aid given by regional development grants, expenditure under the Local Employment Act, selective regional assistance and assistance to the shipbuilding industry. As explained in Cmnd. 5178, over 90 per cent. of the employment provided by the main merchant shipbuilding firms is in the assisted areas. They do not, however, include any regional component of the expenditure classified in Cmnd. 5178 as residual.
I regret that no breakdown of these figures between special development areas, development areas and intermediate areas is available.
The values of loans and grants offered up to 28th February 1973 as regional selective assistance under Section 7 of the Industry Act 1972 are £20.3 million and £2.1 million respectively.