§ Mr Porterasked the Secretary of State for Industry whether qualifying activities for regional development grant purposes will continue to be defined by reference to the 1968 standard industrial classification.
§ Mr. David MitchellYes. The Industry Act 1972 provided for the payment of regional development grants for certain qualifying activities which were defined by reference to the 1968 Standard Industrial Classification—revised edition.
While a new Standard Industrial Classification was published last year, its introduction will not be completed before 1983 and its purpose is to enable United Kingdom statistics to become directly comparable with those of other European countries. Definition of qualifying activities by reference to the 1968 SIC is well established and familiar to applicants for grant under the regional development grants scheme. I see no advantage in changing the basis of definition and the scheme will continue to be based on the revised edition of the 1968 SIC which will continue to be available from Her Majesty's Stationery Office.