§ 43. Mr. Tim Rentonasked the Secretary of State for Industry, what estimate he has made of the overall profitability and return on capital employed of all the loans and subscriptions for equity capital made by his Department in 1977–78 or in the latest year for which figures are available.
Mr. Alan WilliamsDuring 1976–77 my Department's gross expenditure on loans and equity purchases was £86.3 million, while receipts of interest and dividends from these and earlier investments, which at 31st March 1977 totalled £332.5 million, were £23 million at outturn prices. Later information is not yet available.