§ Mr. John H. Osbornasked the Secretary of State for Industry in which industries the European Community provides a framework involving limited degrees of Community intervention or for rationalising intervention by the Governments of individual member States; and how many people are employed in each of these industries both in the United Kingdom and in the Community as a whole.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe rules governing the provision of State aids to industry are contained in articles 92–94 of the Treaty of Rome. In the case of steel and shipbuilding, there are specific Community instruments governing the conditions under which aid may be granted. These are the recently adopted Fifth Directive on aid to shipbuilding, which will be published in its final form soon, and Decision (ECS 257/80) on aid to the steel industry. In addition, the Commission has communicated to the member States guidelines for assistance to the textile and clothing industries.
Employment figures are not available in the form requested. Some indications of scale are afforded by the following:
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United Kingdom European Community Steel (ECSC Treaty Annex 1 products)—January 1981 112,700 496,000 (excluding Italy) Shipbuilding (merchant new building)—December 1980 24,800 121,000 Textiles and Clothing—1979 765,450 2,417,000