§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if he will publish a table showing the total amount of money paid to Britain in European regional development fund grants in each year from 1979 to the latest date for which figures are available; and if he will list the figures (a) in cash terms, (b) in real terms at 1985 prices and (c) as a proportion of the total European Economic Community budget;
(2) if he will publish a table showing the ratio of European regional development fund payments to total regional policy expenditure for each year from 1979 to the latest date for which figures are available; and if he will estimate the ratios for the years 1985–86, 1986–87 and 1987–88.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe available information is given in the following table:
£m Year ERDF Payments to UK—Actual ERDF Payments to UK at 1985 prices ERDF Payments to UK as percentage of total payments from European Community Budget 1979 107.251 178.10 1.00 1980 136.423 188.946 1.65 1981 143.161 177.192 1.64 1982 119.460 137.647 1.24 1983 176.816 193.896 1.41 1984 214.930 225.856 — 1979–1984 924.354 Fotnotes:
1. Current price expenditure has been converted to 1985 prices by use of an estimated GDP deflator.
2. Figures of payments from the EEC budget in 1984 as certified by the Court of Auditors are not yet available.
Expenditure in Great Britain on regional development grant and regional selective assistance in the financial years 1979–80 to 1984–85 totalled £3,536 million in Great Britain and on standard capital grant and regional selective assistance in Northern Ireland for the same period £871 million. The majority of receipts from the European regional development fund were in respect of capital investments in infrastructure, but there is no definition of "regional policy expenditure" to form the basis of the other table requested.