§ Mr. Frank R. Whiteasked the Secretary of State for Industry (1) what was the total Government assistance to industry, per head of population, in all the regions
Region/Area Expenditure Per Head of Population (£) 1974/75* 1975/76 1976/77 1977/78 1978/79 English Regions North 19.8 37.3 55.0 49.4 52.9 North-West 8.4 10.7 10.3 10.7 14.6 Yorkshire and Humberside 3.3 5.1 7.7 7.3 9.9 East Midlands 1.0 0.7 0.9 1.4 2.6 West Midlands 0.3 0.1 0.4 1.0 1.6 Eastern — — 0.7 1.8 3.5 London and South-East — — neg 0.1 0.3 South-West 1.4 1.6 1.7 2.6 3.4 Scotland 13.9 26.2 25.1 26.6 29.2 Wales 16.9 24.4 27.6 32.2 38.9 (1) This includes expenditure on regional development grants, selective financial assistance under sections 7 and 8 of the Industry Act 1972, and on land and factories. Since 1 July 1975 regional selective assistance under section 7 of the Industry Act 1972 to firms in Scotland and Wales has been administered by the Scottish Office and Welsh Office respectively. Responsibility for the construction of factories in Scotland and Wales passed to Scottish and Welsh Development Agencies on 15 December 1975 and 1 January 1976 respectively. Expenditure under section 8 of the Industry Act 1972 excludes payments made to individual firms and payments under the offshore supplies interest relief scheme, as it is not always possible to allocate payments made in these cases to specific regions or areas. Expenditure under section 7 of the Act excludes payments of £4.3 million in 1977–78 and £52.0 million in 1978–79 to the Ford Motor Company which were shared between the North-Western region of England and Wales, but which cannot be allocated specifically. (2) All figures are at outturn prices. They are gross and include payments of RDG's and selective financial assistance to the nationalised industries. (3) Aside from expenditure on land and factories, there is no predetermined allocation of regional preferential expenditure between separate areas or regions. Expenditure under such schemes depends, therefore, on the level of applications from eligible firms within the areas or regions concerned. * The 1974–75 figures for the English regions exclude expenditure on land and factories. They are not therefore, comparable either with the corresponding figures for Scotland and Wales for the year or to figures for the later years.