HC Deb 04 May 1983 vol 42 cc89-90W
Sir Anthony Meyer

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what have been the United Kingdom's receipts from the European social fund in each year since 1973; under which categories of aid particular amounts were received each year; and if he will express these disbursements as a percentage of total grants made from the fund in each year and as a proportion of the Community's labour force.

Mr. Gummer

The information requested is set out in the following tables. The fund has operated under its present structure of 10 separate "areas of intervention" only since it was reviewed in 1977. The figures in table 2 therefore relate only to the complete years 1978 to 1982 inclusive.

Table 1
Year United Kingdom allocation (commitments) in £ million* United Kingdom allocation as proportion of total† ESF allocations (percentage) United Kingdom labour force as proportion of total EC labour force (percentage)||
1973 24 28.2 23.7
1974 26 22.0 23.6
1975 46 24.8 23.8
1976 44 19.6 23.9
1977 85 26.1 23.9
1978 75 19.7 23.8
1979 130 25.4 23.7
1980 135 23.3 23.4
1981 141 24.9 ¶22.3
1982 258 ‡30.0 •—
* Source: Annual notification of Commission's decisions on applications.
† Source: 10th annual report on the European Social Fund (pp.90–91).
‡ Estimated—official figures not yet available.
║ Source: EUROSTAT.
¶ Includes Greece, whereas previous figures relate to the Community of 9 member states.
• Comparative figures not yet available.

Table 2: Breakdown of United Kingdom allocations by area of intervention (1978–82)
United Kingdom allocations (in £ million)
Areas of intervention 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982
Young people 25.4 67.5 71.9 85.1 151.5
Women — 0.4 0.1 0.5 0.8
Migrant workers 0.5 0.6 1.2 0.9 9.6
Textile workers 4.1 2.5 1.2 2.0 3.1
Handicapped people 7.3 10.7 9.3 17.0 22.9
Regions 36.6 49.9 50.4 33.2 65.4
Technical progress 0.3 — 0.7 2.2 3.7
Groups of undertakings — — 0.5 0.2 —
Pilot Schemes — 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.6

Note 1: Because of rounding, these figures may not add up exactly to the totals given in table 1.

Note 2: The United Kingdom received no allocations under the fund's area of intervention for former agricultural workers in these years.