§ Mr. Parkasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the number of applications and people covered, regionally and nationally, under the small firms employment subsidy; and if further applications can be made.
§ Mr. Jim LesterOn 31 May 1979, the numbers of applications approved and 137W extra jobs supported regionally and nationally under the small firms employment subsidy scheme were as follows:
Region Approved applications Jobs currently supported South-East 2,820 5,500 East Anglia 265 400 South-West 1,127 2,000 West Midlands 1,496 3,300 East Midlands 764 3,300 Yorkshire and Humberside 2,080 6,600 North-West 3,439 10,300 North 2,241 6,100 Wales 1,975 5,800 Scotland 2,713 7,200 Great Britain 18,920 50,500 Applications can be made by small manufacturing firms throughout Great Britain and small non-manufacturing firms in special development areas, development areas and inner city partnership areas up to 30 June 1979. From 1 July 1979 the scheme will be available
Region Projects applications Projects approved Places approved Scotland … … … … 174 140 871 Northern … … … … 137 94 669 Yorkshire and Humberside … 91 69 302 North-West … … … … 77 72 529 Midlands … … … … 179 198 1,113 Wales … … … … 83 85 486 South-West … … … … 91 52 279 London … … … … 35 20 135 South-East … … … … 58 38 203 Great Britain … … … … 925 768 4,587 STEP began on 1 April 1978. The following table shows the cumulative totals since that date to end May of
Region Projects approved Places approved Estimated number of entrants Scotland … … … … 607 4,817 3,187 Northern … … … … 592 5,005 4,015 Yorkshire and Humberside … 457 2,035 2,318 North-West … … … … 619 6,692 4,344 Midlands … … … … 699 4,969 4,143 Wales … … … … 269 2,130 1,294 South-West … … … … 296 1,738 1,374 London … … … … 119 1,207 829 South-East … … … … 221 1,362 1,344 Great Britain … … … … 3,879 29,955 22,848 Following the recent review of expenditure STEP will be concentrated in areas of greatest need. Projects will be restricted to special development areas, development areas and partnership, programme and other district authorities designated under the inner urban areas
138Wto small manufacturing firms in special development areas and development areas only. The scheme is due to close for applications on 31 March 1980.