§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Industry what has been the trend in factory lettings over the past year.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe Department of Industry only keeps records of new lettings by the English Industrial Estates Corporation, but these reveal a very encouraging trend. In the year to the end of February 1983, EIEC let 807 factories comprising 243,557 square metres of floor space. This is more than double the number of new lettings for the previous year, which itself was a record year for the Corporation. I understand that in Wales and Scotland the Welsh Development Agency and the Scottish Development Agency are also reporting a record number of new lettings over the past year.