§ Mr. Peter Millsasked the Secretary of State for Industry what is the reason for the delay in paying the grant of £35,000 to British Plastics Developments Limited at Torrington.
§ Mr. David MitchellInformation concerning individual applications for regional development grant is treated as, 749W confidential between the Department and the applicant. Applications from the Torrington area are the responsibility of the regional development grants office at Cardiff, where the average time for the examination and approval of applications is presently sixteen weeks compared with an average examination time of thirteen weeks over the life of the scheme since 1972. Efforts are being made to reduce the time taken.
Applications are thereafter subject to the four-month deferment in the payment of approved claims, announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Budget statement of 12 June 1979, as part of the Government's essential cuts in public expenditure.