§ Mr. Kinnockasked the Secretary of State for Industry (1) what percentage proportion of total United Kingdom regional aid expenditure was paid to firms operating in Wales in each year 1964 to 1974;
(2) what was the total amount of regional aid from all Exchequer sources expressed in financial terms paid to firms operating in Wales in each year 1964 to 1974.
§ Mr. Gregor Mackenzie, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 19th May 1975; Vol. 892, c. 251], gave the following information:
Following are the figures: 707W
Total Regional Aid Aid to firms in Wales Aid to firms in Wales as percentage of total 1964–65 … … … … 27.0 0.2 1 1965–66 … … … … 20.0 -1.0 — 1966–67 … … … … 37.0 2.9 8 1967–68 … … … … 184.8 24.2 13 1968–69 … … … … 217.4 38.4 18 1969–70 … … … … 251.5 42.1 17 1970–71 … … … … 277.4 46.3 17 1971–72 … … … … 247.3 41.6 17 1972–73 … … … … 239.5 38.1 16 1973–74 … … … … 316.3 49.8 16 1974–75 … … … … 349.5 55.6 16 NOTES: (1) The figures exclude assistance to Public Corporations. They include expenditure under the following programmes: provision of Government factories, regional employment premium, loans and grants under the Local Employment Acts and section 7 of the Industry Act 1972, regional development grants and the regional differential under the investment grants scheme. (2) Regional assistance in Northern Ireland operates under separate arrangements tom the rest of the United Kingdom and has therefore been excluded from the totals in the left-hand column. (3) The negative figure in 1965–66 is due to sales and loan repayments exceeding new assistance in that year. (4) Exact figures on a regional basis are not available for the investment grants regional differential. This has had to be estimated, and the totals should therefore be treated as approximate. (5) Assistance over the period to the Anglesey Aluminium Smelter scheme—£32.4 million—has been excluded, since this is not specifically regional aid.