HC Deb 26 January 1978 vol 942 cc775-7W
Mr. Woof

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the amount of revenue collected in tax on food in the years 1975, 1976, and 1977, respectively.

Mr. Robert Sheldon

The amounts of revenue collected in taxes on food in the years 1975, 1976 and the first nine months of 1977 were:

Receipts (£ million) Receipts as percentage of total Scheme Receipts
1. Individual Projects 15.3 88
2. Common and Special Measures:
(a) Dairy Herd Conversion Scheme 5.0 37
(b) Farm and Horticulture Development Scheme 0.4 50
(c)Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances Scheme) 17.5 90
38.2 75

  1. 1. Assisted areas have been taken to be those areas attracting regional development grants or treated as special assistance areas, i.e. Wales Scotland, Northern Ireland, Cornwall, Cumbria, Northumberland, Durham—including Tyne and Wear M.C.—Cleveland and part of North Yorkshire.
  2. 2. The assisted area covering North Devon—about one-third of the area in Devon—has been discounted as it is not possible to separate the data required.
  3. 3. Receipts from other common and special measures have been discounted largely because of the small amounts involved.
  4. 4. Receipts from the EAGGF (Guarantee Section) cannot be broken down by individual areas.

Receipts from the European Social Fund from 1st January 1973 to 19th January 1978 in respect of assisted areas total £79.8 million which is 80 per cent. of all receipts by the United Kingdom. The amount excludes applications which are made on a national basis and are not broken down to assisted areas.

In general, the policy of the European Investment Bank is to make loans which benefit the less developed regions of the Community. The main exception to this is in the case of projects which benefit more than one member State of the Community. Between 1st January 1973 to 31st December 1977 the Bank made loans in the United Kingdom totalling £879 million. £695 million of this total (79 per cent.) related to projects wholly in the assisted areas. The only projects in the United Kingdom entirely situated in a non-assisted area where the Bank has given a loan on the grounds of benefit to more than one member State are the construction of the second Dartford Tunnel, for which a loan of £7 million was made to the Kent and Essex Councils in 1974, and the development of cross-Channel Hovercraft at Dover, for which a loan of £5 million was made to the British Railways Board in 1976. The

Year Borrower Amount (£m) Project
1974 Electricity Council … … 15.6 Nuclear power station, Hartlepool.
1975 Electricity Council … … 7.8 Nuclear power station, Hartlepool.
British Railways Board … … 6.3 Special coal wagon construction at Shildon, Co. Durham.
National Water Council … … 7.5 Kidder water supply scheme.
ICFC … … 0.372 Factory making forged bolts, screws and rivets, Co. Durham.
ICFC … … 0.080 Machine tool manufacturing and general engineering, Newcastle.
ICFC … … 0.160 Aluminium extension, Birtley, Co. Durham.
ICFC … … 0.125 Manufacture of food colouring, Northumberland.
1976 British Steel Corporation … … 6.75 Expansion of Consett works.
National Water Council … … 10.0 Kielder water scheme.
Post Office … … 17.6 Modernisation of telephone system in Northumbria.
1976 National Water Council … … 19.8 Kielder water supply scheme
National Water Council … … 15.0 Water supply project and sewerage scheme on Teesside.
British Steel Corporation … … 3.9 Brickworks modernisation at Consett.
British Steel Corporation … … 6.9 Benzole refinery at Port Clarence on Teesside.
British Steel Corporation … … 8.0 Iron ore unloader at Redcar.

In addition to the loans listed above the North-East has also benefited from European Investment Bank loans for a number of projects which either straddle the regional boundaries or benefit all or most regions of the United Kingdom.