Mr. Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how much of the £200 million programme of expenditure for the Scottish Development Agency set out in the Chancellor of the Exchequer's White Paper for the next five years will be in respect of functions inherited from other agencies and bodies; and how much of the total will be taken up with the costs of administering the Agency.
§ Mr. William RossIt is for the Agency itself to determine its priorities for expenditure, but in broad terms it is expected that half the £200 million will be devoted to completely new activities—e.g., environmental schemes and industrial investment. The other half covers inherited functions but at a greatly increased rate of expenditure. The administrative expenses of the Agency are expected to build up to a level of some £3.5 million a year; a proportion of this will, however, be met from receipts and does not feature in the figure given in the Public Expenditure White Paper.
§ Mr. Robert Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is yet in a position to publish the draft industrial investment guidelines for the Scottish Development Agency.
§ Mr. William RossI have today sent the draft guidelines to the Agency and to the Scottish Trades Union Congress and the Confederation of British Industry in Scotland. They have been drawn up in 423W full consultation with these bodies. I have placed copies of the draft in the Library.