§ Mr. Welshasked the Secretary of State for Industry how many regional development grant applications he has received per month and per region in 1977 under
Period Billingham Bootle Cardiff Glasgow Total 1st January-28th January 1977 731 406 505 949 2,591 29th January-25th February 1977 1,218 490 987 1,281 3,976 26th February-31st March 1977 3,382 1,799 2,986 4,662 12,829 1st April-29th April 1977 558 214 467 582 1,821 30th April-27th May 1977 593 342 391 668 1,994 28th May-24th June 1977 641 310 530 876 2,357 Total 7,123 3,561 5,866 9,018 25,568
Geographical coverage of Offices Billingham … Part Northern, Yorkshire and Humberside. Bootle … Part Northern, North West, East and West Midlands. Cardiff … Wales, South West. Glasgow … Whole of Scotland. Over the life-time of the scheme, the average time taken to process applications has been three months. Because the number of applications in March was unprecedently high, they will not in general have been processed before September; and, as the Chancellor announced in the House on 26th July 1976, the payment of grants in respect of applications received on or after 1st April 1977 is subject to an additional delay of three months.