§ Mr. Porterasked the Secretary of State for Industry (1) what financial provision was made in his Department's budget for regional development grants 1980–81 for the Merseyside special development area; and how much of that budget was actually taken up;
(2) what financial provision has been made in the budget of his Department for the Merseyside special development area for regional development grant for 1981–82;
(3) if he will consider the possibility of transferring funds not taken up under the regional development grant fund as an addition to the funds available and budgeted for under section 7 of the Industry Act in the Merseyside special development area;
(4) what was the budget figure in section 7 grants in Merseyside special development area for each of the last five years; and what was the actual amount granted in each of those years.
§ Mr. MacGregorPayments of both regional development grant and selective assistance under section 7 of the Industry Act 1972 depend on the incidence of eligible applications received. No specific budget is therefore allocated to particular areas, nor is there any occasion for the transfer of provision between the two forms of assistance in respect of particular areas.
The amount of regional development grant paid in the Merseyside SDA in 1980–81 is provisionally estimated to be £83,899,000. The payments made under section 7 of the Industry Act 1972 to companies in the Merseyside SDA during each of the past five years were as follows:
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1976–77 £2,311,000 1977–78 £3,189,000 1978–79 £4,758,000 1979–80 £9,554,000 1980–81 £7,286,000 These figures exclude any part of the global sums paid to the Ford Motor Co. Ltd. during this period.