§ Mr. Silvesterasked the Secretary of State for Industry (1) if he will detail expenditure incurred in Merseyside, Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, Tyne and Wear and West Yorkshire, respectively, on programmes administered by his Department for each year since 1974;
(2) if he will detail expenditure incurred in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Leeds, respectively, on programmes administered by his Department for each year since 1974.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe amount of selective assistance paid out under sections 7 and 8 of the Industry Act 1972, as amended, in each financial year since 1974 in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Leeds is as follows:
each financial year since 1974 in Merseyside, Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Tyne and Wear and West Yorkshire is as follows:
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(£000) Merseyside Greater Manchester West Midlands Tyne and Wear West Yorkshire Section 7 1974–75 9,028 2,309 — 1,699 1,155 1975–76 4,278 10,117 — 1,470 1,035 1976–77 1,960 1,747 — 1,103 1,671 1977–78 2,731 3,875 — 1,524 1,618 1978–79 4,006 3,697 — 2,912 1,846 1979–80 7,842 4,187 — 2,992 2,699 1980–81 4,691 4,390 — 4,118 3,257 Section 8 1974–75 — 40 — — 290 1975–76 — 273 57 — 2,875 1976–77 63 559 1,456 202 3,764 1977–78 426 1,905 502 549 6,190 1978–79 600 4,459 8,586 1,719 7,363 1979–80 606 5,191 10,427 886 6,170 1980–81 2,734 3,832 9,868 668 5,156 Comparable information on payments of regional development grant is not available, and estimates could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The only readily available information relates to payments by standard planning regions. The relevant regions are Northern (Newcastle), North-West (Liverpool and Manchester) and Yorkshire and Humberside (Leeds).
(£000) Northern North-West Yorkshire and Humberside 1974–75 57,782 40,736 11,088 1975–76 106,875 47,907 17,996 1976–77 152,126 54,752 23,515 1977–78 137,398 49,789 22,110 1978–79 135,267 64,333 30,165 1979–80 122,396 58,718 21,487 1980–81 117,546 105,730 38,710 Section 7 assistance and regional development grant is only paid on investment in assisted areas. During the period in question, West Midlands county did not have assisted area status and investment there was thus not eligible for section 7 assistance or regional development grant. Section 8 assistance is available in all parts of the country.
§ Mr. Silvesterasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will detail grants and loans received from European Economic Community funds in Merseyside, Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Tyne and Wear and West Yorkshire, respectively, and for Liverpool, Birmingham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Leeds, respectively, for each year since 1974.
§ Mr. MacGregorSince the inception of the European Regional Development Fund in 1975, payments totalling £114,350 have been received in respect of projects in the West Midlands region. £34,310 was in respect of industrial projects and, as permitted by the fund regulation, was retained by the Government as a partial repayment of the United Kingdom's regional aid payments.
Records of grants and loans received from the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the European Investment Bank and the European Coal and Steel Community are normally kept on a national basis, sometimes on a regional basis, but not for smaller areas 604W or individual cities. I regret that the remainder of the information sought could not therefore be provided without disproportionate cost.