§ Mr. Chris Patten asked the Secretary of State for Industry how much financial assistance has been provided to British Leyland in each year since its nationalisation; and how much assistance is expected to be provided in the current year .
§ Mr. Norman Lamont:The Government acquired the majority of the shares of British Leyland—now BL—Ltd. held by private and other investors under a scheme of arrangement which came into effect 11 August 1975 .
Government funding since then has been as follows:
1975–76 £200 million Equity (under British Leyland Act 1975) 1976–77 £100 million Loans (converted to equity 31 March 1980) 1977–78 £50 million Loan (converted to equity 31 March 1980) 1978–79 £450 million Equity 1979–80 £150 million Equity 1980–81 £300 million Equity The then Secretary of State's statement of 26 January 1981 explained that the Government had approved BL's 1981 corporate plan and had agreed to provide the associated funding requirement of £620 million in 1981–82 and £370 million in 1982–83. Of this, £450 million has been advanced to date.
BL companies have also received regional development grants and two interest relief grants under the Industry Act 1972—as amended—The following figures have been taken from information published quarterly in the British Business magazine:
1975–76 †1.159 — 1976–77 0.799 0.099 1977–78 2.369 0.571 1978–79 4.293 0.590 1979–80 1.646 0.127 1980–81 2.086 0.019 1981–82 ‡2.160 ‡0.116 * Information about payments of regional development grant over £25,000 has, since 1 October 1974, been published each quarter in British Business. This is the source for these figures. The totals of regional development grants individually worth less than £25,000 cannot be provided without disproportionate effort.† From 1 July 1975‡To 30 June 1981Assistance provided for research and development work is commercially confidential, and details are not published.