§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will give the figures for total expenditure on regional preferential assistance to industry for each year since 1977–78 in (a) Scotland, (b) Wales and (c) Great Britain; if he will break the figures down to show the various sources of the assistance; and if, in each case, he will give for Scotland and for Wales the percentages, taking England as base.
§ Mr. MacGregorGross expenditure for the years 1977–78 to 1980–81 on regional preferential assistance to industry in Scotland, Wales and Great Britain is as follows:
£ million 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 Scotland 146 160 142 197 Wales 91 111 110 177 Great Britain 507 628 562 731 The main items of regional preferential assistance to industry in 1980–81 are as follows:
144W
£ million Scotland Wales Great Britain Regional development grant 113 104 491 Selective financial assistance (section 7) 21 7 *71
Scotland Wales Great Britain Land and factories: (i) Local Employment Act assistance — — 34 (ii) Scottish and Welsh Development Agencies: 47 60 107 Highlands and Islands Development Board 11 — 11 Other items† 4 6 17 Total 197 177 731 * Includes some expenditure which cannot be broken down to a regional level. † The other items cover tourism, small firms employment subsidy—regional preferential element—expenditure by the Development Board for Rural Wales. Using the expenditure in England as a base the indices for Scotland and Wales are as follows:
1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 England 100 100 100 100 Scotland 54 45 46 56 Wales 34 31 35 50