§ Dr. Edmund Marshallasked the Secretary of State for Industry why the advance factory building programme of the English Industrial Estates Corporation for 1981–82 has been allocated only to areas which will continue to be assisted areas after 31 July 1982.
§ Mr. MacGregorIt is the Government's general policy to concentrate regional assistance where it is most needed. This has also meant that some areas which are to remain assisted areas after 31 July 1982 have not benefited from the EIEC's 1981–82 programme.
In these circumstances, it would not be appropriate to provide factories in areas where, because of the lead times involved in planning and construction, they would enter the market only a relatively short time before the locality ceased to be an assisted area.
All projects already announced for such areas are being completed, however, provided that a start is possible before 31 July 1982, and the EIEC is free to initiate projects in such areas with private sector funds, and is doing so.