§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Secretary of State for Industry (1) how many new starter manufacturing operations have been set up in West Cumbria and the county of Cumbria with offers of assistance made available under Industry Act provisions;
(2) how many of the applications for information of an industrial or service development nature which his Department, through its regional offices, referred to the Cumbria county council over the last 12 months has been turned from an inquiry into a decision to proceed with a commercial or industrial project in (a) West Cumbria and (b) Cumbria as a whole;
(3) how many applications for information of an industrial or service development nature his Department has received for the Northern region and the North-West region during the last month; and how many of these his Department has referred to the Cumbria county council's industrial development unit;
(4) what was the total number and value of offers of regional assistance made to companies in West Cumbria travel-to-work areas, in Cumbria as a whole, in the Northern region and the North-West region for the last month for which statistics are available.
§ Mr. MacGregorAs previously explained to the hon. Member, Cumbria has been the responsibility of the Department's North-West regional office since 1 April. The information which follows therefore relates where relevant to the North-West region and not the former Northern region.
Further to earlier replies on this subject, in June 1981 no offers of assistance under section 7 of the Industry Act 1972 were made to companies in Cumbria; five offers totalling £4.85 million were made towards projects in the North-West region. 502 enquiries of an industrial or commercial development nature were received of which 92 related to selective financial assistance. One of these was specifically referred to the Cumbria county council industrial development unit. Although it is standard practice to ensure that any inquirer is aware of the services provided by the Cumbria county council industrial development unit, the Department has no information on the number of inquiries to that organisation which resulted in companies deciding to proceed with a project.
It is not possible to identify precisely the time at which new starter manufacturing operations assisted under section 7 of the Industry Act are set up. However records of offers of assistance made each month are kept, although none were made in June 1981 with respect to Cumbria.