§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Industry what help he is giving to the engineering industry in the West Midlands area to overcome its present problems.
§ Mr. Les Huckfield,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 6 February 1979; Vol. 962, c. 106], gave the following information
The Department is providing assistance to engineering industries in the West Midlands through a wide range of schemes under the Science and Technology Act 1965 and the Industry Act 1972. Schemes under these Acts which may be relevant to different companies in the engineering industries are the selective investment scheme, for large projects; the drop forging, instrumentations and automation, and micro-electronics industry schemes; the product and proces development scheme, the micro-processor application scheme and the energy conservation scheme.
The assistance offered under these Acts to engineering industries in the West Midlands up to the end of 1978 totalled £33.6 million for 257 projects worth £217 million. These figures do not include assistance given under the general powers of section 8 of the Industry Act to BL, Chysler, Alfred Herbert and Meriden 372W with the whole or substantial proportions of their business in the West Midlands.
In addition to financial assistance of this type, there are also advisory services such as the manufacturing advisory service available to medium-sized engineering companies.