§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will list the costs of the small firms services, by region, for each of the years 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81 and the estimated costs in 1981–82.
§ Mr. MacGregor[pursuant to his reply, 11 July 1981]: Information about the cost of the Department of Industry's 255W small firms service is not readily available by region or for the years before 1978–79. The national cost of the service since 1 April 1978 has been:
1978–79 £0.9 million 1979–80 £1.1 million 1980–81 £2.0 million As I announced on 11 March, an additional £1 million is to be provided for the small firms service in the current financial year, bringing estimated expenditure in 1981–82 to £3 million.