Mr. Jim Callaghanasked the Secretary of State for Industry what was the total amount of financial assistance showing grants and loans, respectively, given to industry in the North-West since February 1974 to the most recent available date; and what was the number of firms that received such assistance and the number of jobs that were provided as a result.
§ 8 Mr. David MitchellThe following assistance has been made available to industry located in the North-West region under the Industry Act 1972 in612W the period from 1 April 1974 to 31 March 1979:
PAYMENT OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT GRANT Amount (£m) 1974–75 … … … 40.7 1975–76 … … … 47.9 1976–77 … … … 54.8 1977–78 … … … 49.8 1978–79 … … … 64.3 Information is not readily available on the total number of firms reeciving regional development grant.
Section 7—Offers of Regional Selective Assistance (excluding shipbuilding).
Number of firms Amount (£m) Grant Loan 1974–75 … … 169 11.1 9.1 1975–76 … … 168 18.6 1.2 1976–77 … … 215 12.7 2.9 1977–78 … … 314 36.2 1.4 1978–79 … … 316 45.4 — Section
Offers of Selective Financial Assistance under investment and sectional schemes
Number of firms Amount (£m) Grant 1974–75 … … 8 0.2 1975–76 … … 11 1.2 1976–77 … … 60 11.2 1977–78 … … 117 7.8 1978–79 … … 321 24.1 No loans have been made under Section 8.
Whilst information is available on the estimated employment associated with projects supported under Section 7 of the Industry Act 1972, the proportion of these projects which would have gone ahead without assistance in not known. Regional development grant and grants under Section 8 of the Act are not in any case linked to employment.