§ Lord HOUGHTON of SOWERBYasked Her Majesty's Government:
What amount of Government aid has been given to the tobacco industry for modernisation of plant and machinery and how this compares with the grant to the Health Education Council to discourage smoking as the principal known cause of lung cancer.
§ Lord LEONARDAssistance to the United Kingdom tobacco industry for plant and machinery has been granted under Section 7 of the 1972 Industry Act. Assistance so granted or approved totals £5.3 million in the form of interest relief grants and £12.8 million in Regional Development grants. In addition, assistance under the Industries Development Act (Northern Ireland) 1966 and 1971 and under the Industrial Investment General Assistance Act (Northern Ireland) 1966 and 1971 amounted to £12.1 million. As a result of this assistance over 3,200 new jobs have been or will be created and a further 600 preserved.
I understand from the Department of Health and Social Security, since the end of 1972 the Health Education Council spent about £2.3 million of its budget in specific publicising of the dangers of smoking. In addition, the Council has spent about £1.8 million on the Better Health Campaign which includes warnings about the dangers of smoking to health; it is however not possible to isolate the amount spent on this element.