§ Mr. Denzil Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Industry what are the limits of the delegated financial authority for the Department of Industry's officers in Wales, Scotland and the English assisted areas as they affect applications for selective financial assistance under Section 7 of the Industry Act 1972; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HefferUntil now the limit of delegated financial authority has been £500,000. Applications involving loans above this amount have had to be referred to the Headquarters of the Industrial Development Executive in London before an offer could be made. As from today, the limit for Scotland, Wales and the main assisted area regional offices in England, is raised to £1 million and a corresponding increase is being made in the delegated limits for other forms of assistance such as interest-relief grants.
287W
§ Mr. Denzil Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Industry whether he will regularly publish statistics relating to the selective assistance which is available under Section 7 of the Industry Act 1972.
§ Mr. BennYes. Parliament and the public are entitled to detailed information on this subject, and I shall be arranging for it to be provided. Specifically I am arranging now for the number of applications received and the number and value of offers made, on a regional office basis, under Section 7 of the Industry Act, to be published monthly in "Trade and Industry". The first statistics, for the months ended 31st March 1974, 30th April 1974 and 31st May 1974, will appear very shortly. This information will supplement the information about regional selective assistance which is published annually in the Industry Act Annual Report.