§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Industry why, in the light of the statement by Commissioner Vredeling that generous sums are available to assist the British Steel Corporation, no application for such support from the social fund has yet been made by the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 31 January 1980]: The sums which Mr. Vredeling is reported as mentioning refer principally to existing European Coal and Steel Community assistance.
The Department of Employment has forwarded an application for assistance from the European social fund by British Steel Corporation (Industry) Ltd. The application, which is for assistance towards the retraining of unemployed persons in areas affected by steel plant closures, has been submitted under the provisions of the fund designed to assist provisions of the fund designed to assist regions suffering from structural unemployment.