§ Mr. Dempseyasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish in the Official Report details showing the number of jobs provided to date since 663W the introduction of each of the special employment measures in operation at the present time.
Mr. Gregor MacKensieThe information requested is a follows:
Measure Cumulative Total at March, 1979 Temporary employment subsidy 57,935 Short-time working compensation scheme 1,484 Small firms employment subsidy 7,976 Job release scheme 6,176 Job introduction scheme 102 Youth opportunities programme 19,451 Community industry 5,412 Special temporary employment programme 2,032* Training in industry 11,076 Total 111,644 * Current figure as cumulative total is not available.
§ Mr. Dempseyasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what was (a) the total amount of financial assistance showing grants and loans, respectively, given to Scottish industry since February 1974 to the most recent convenient date, (b) the number of firms that received such assistance and (c) the number of jobs that were provided as a result.
§ Mr. Gregor MacKenzieExpenditure on regional preferential assistance to industry in Scotland from financial year 1974–75 to financial year 1977–78 is currently estimated to have amounted to £740.5 million in total: details are published regularly in the Scottish Economic Bulletin. Within this total, selective financial assistance under section 7 of the Industry Act 1972—excluding shipbuilding—was £55.4 million, comprising £33.4 million in loans and £22.1 million in interest relief and removal grants. The number of offers of section 7 assistance to firms in Scotland over the same period was 633, and the estimated employment associated with the projects for which these offers were made amounted to 79,000 jobs. In addition to regional preferential assistance, Scottish industry has also derived considerable benefit from national schemes operated under section 8 of the Industry Act 1972, and from the Government's special employment and training measures.