§ Mr. Georgeasked the Secretary of State for Industry (1) what measures have been taken by his Department to preserve and create jobs in the West Midlands; and what has been the cost;
(2) what measures have been taken to save and encourage industry in the West Midlands; what has been the cost; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. CryerThroughout the West Midlands region as a whole industry has benefited from a range of measures introduced under Section 8 of the Industry Act. Information to date indicates that so far these have had the following effects on industry in the West Midlands:
Industry Schemes.—Under schemes for individual sectors of industry assistance of £5.6 million has been offered for 37 projects with a total investment value of almost £25 million. As a direct result 500 jobs will be created and many more 442W safeguarded. Additional jobs will also result from orders for equipment, and construction and installation work generated by these projects.
Accelerated Project Investment Scheme. —Under this scheme designed to bring forward or induce new investment, assistance of £8 million had been offered for 23 projects involving a total investment of £73 million. About 3,400 jobs will be created by the introduction of these projects and another 3,000 will be safeguarded. Orders for new plant and machinery generated by the assisted projects will lead several thousand additional jobs in the supplying industries and there will be a similar impact on the construction sector.
General assistance under Section 8 to major companies with factories in West Midlands.—Assistance of £26 million has been provided to Alfred Herbert; the Government potential commitment to Chrysler (UK) Ltd. is £162.5 million; and some £30 million of assistance has been approved by Parliament to British Leyland and a further £170 million should be provided over the period to 1979–80 (see White Paper—" Public Expenditure to 1979–80 "—Cmnd. 6393). Assistance to these three firms has safeguarded about 95,000 jobs in the West Midlands, but it is not possible to relate the sums of assistance to employment in particular regions. The Government also provided £4.95 million to enable the Workers' Co-operative at Meriden, which now employs 700 people, to be set up. Following the collapse of the NVT's manufacturing operations last year the Government provided £275,000 plus up to £500k in bank guarantees to the two subsidiary companies of NVT last December. This has enabled some 300 jobs to be saved in Birmingham.
In addition to Section 8 assistance, manufacturing firms within the Owestry intermediate area qualify for regional development grants on new buildings and works, selective financial assistance under Section 7 of the Industry Act, and stand to benefit from the provision of Government factories. In 1975–76 total expenditure on the first two items amounted to £52,000.