§ Sir Anthony Meyerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list for each member State of the European Community (a) the year-on-year rate of inflation, (b) the current rate of unemployment, (c) the increase in the percentage of the work force unemployed over the past six months,(d) the increase in manufacturing unit production costs in 1981, (e) the public sector borrowing requirement expressed as a percentage of gross domestic product, (f) the proportion of the working population currently in employment and (g) the balance of visible and invisible trade for 1981.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneMost of the information requested is as follows:
Figures for the increase in manufacturing's unit Labour costs in 1981—section (d) of the question-are available only for the United Kingdom and Germany from the OECD's main economic indicators for the first three quarters of 1981. Figures are not available for other EC countries.
Most EC member States do not use a concept of public sector borrowing requirement that is comparable to the United Kingdom's—part (e) of the question—partly because the extents of public corporations and their methods of raising finance vary so widely. Instead the European Commission regularly estimates general Government borrowing requirements as a percentage of GDP, which are given in column (e).
445W2 January 1981 rates as percentage of civilian labour force (seasonally adjusted), except Greece (percentage of total employees).
3 January unemployment rate minus July unemployment rate.
4 Commission Estimates.
5 Belgium and Luxembourg.
6 Bank for International Settlements preliminary figure.
7 Bank of Ireland estimate.
8 Included with Belgium.
9 Complete figures not yet available.
Sources:
European Economy Supplement A, March 1982; Employment Gazette; First quarterly examination of the economic situation in the Community (Document No. 5511/82); National sources and Bank for International Settlements.
§ Mr. Masonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the financial grants and loans that have been afforded to Yorkshire and Humberside annually from the various institutions of the European Economic Community, specifying for what purposes, since the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Rome.
§ Sir Geoffrey Howe[pursuant to his reply, 6 April 1982, c. 288]: Information on the grants and loans
£ million ECSC* EIB/NCI† loans EC grants Year Loans Grants Yorkshire and Humberside alone With other regions ESF‡ ERDF** EAGGF†† Guidance 1973 N/A N/A — — — — 0.78 1974 26.2 0.81 12.0 — — — 2.09 1975 36.7 0.06 1.6 7.2 — 1.00 1.43 1976 35.6 0.03 19.7 — — 2.10 0.66 1977 4.5 0.25 14.6 — 0.10 2.34 0.82 1978 0 0.12 31.0 8.4 0.04 4.06 1.61 1979 0.9 0.44 29.9 — 0.01 7.24 0.45 1980 5.2 0.41 13.8 7.5 0.02 18.21 0.62 1981 1.5 7.37 5.5 2.5 0.83 9.88 0.79 Total 110.6 9.49 128.1 25.6 1.00 44.83 9.25 *Related to steel activities for ECSC only. ECSC = European Coal and Steel Community. †EIB=European Investment Bank: NCI = New Community Instrument, administered by EIB. ‡ESF=European Social Fund; started in 1974. **ERDF=European Regional Development Fund: started in 1975. ††EAGGF=European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund.
§ Mr. Masonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the financial grants and loans that have been afforded to South Yorkshire metropolitan county council area annually from the various institutions of the European Economic Community, specifying for what purposes, since the United Kingdom signed the Treaty.
§ Sir Geoffrey Howe[pursuant to his reply, 6 April 1982, c. 288]: Information on the grants and loans committed for schemes in the Yorkshire metropolitan county council area which can be separately identified are shown in the following table.
In addition, the area will have benefited from loans and grants where allocations cover a larger geographical area and where more detailed breakdowns are not available centrally or only available at disproportionate cost.
446W
£ million *ECSC loans EC Grants **EAGGF †ESF ‡ERDF 1973 N/A — — — 1974 0.5 — — 0.14 1975 29.7 — — 0.13 committed for schemes in the area which can be separately identified are shown in the following table. These figures do not necessarily reflect total benefits. In many instances grants and loans cover wider areas and projects, and allocation is only possible at disproportionate cost. The Yorkshire and Humberside regions have been awarded £22.8 million in 1981 and £137.9 million in 1982 under the supplementary measures schemes which resulted from the 30 May 1980 agreement.
*ECSC loans EC Grants **EAGGF (Guidance) †ESF ‡ERDF 1976 35.6 — 0.09 — 1977 0 — 0.51 0.05 1978 0 — 0.67 0.07 1979 0.9 — 0.34 — 1980 5.2 0.02 8.65 0.08 1981 1.5 0.03 4.26 — Total 73.4 0.05 14.52 0.47 * ECSC = European Coal and Steel Community. Figures relate to steel measures only. † ESF = European Social Fund; started in 1974. ‡ ERDF = European Regional Development Fund; started in 1975. ** EAGGF European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund.
§ Mr. Masonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the financial grants and loans that have been afforded to Barnsley metropolitan district council area annually from various institutions of the European Economic Community, specifying for what purposes, since the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Rome.
§ Sir Geoffrey Howe[pursuant to his reply, 6 April 1982, c. 289]: Grants committed from the European 447W regional development fund since its inception relating to schemes in the Barnsley district council area which can be separately identified are as follows:
£ 1976 70,110 1977 135,489 1978 592,685 1979 176,700 1981 15,000 In addition, £17,100 in 1980 and £34,238 in 1981 was committed from the European social fund. These represent only a small proportion of grants awarded from the ESF in respect of schemes operating in this area.
In addition, the area will have benefited from loans and grants where allocations cover a larger geographical area and where more detailed breakdowns are not available centrally or only available at disproportionate cost.