§ Mr. Crowtherasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will make special assistance available to compensate for the reduced availability of European Community grants for the tourist industry consequent upon the loss of assisted area status.
§ Mr. ButcherSpecial assistance for the tourist industry is already available throughout Britain under section 4 of the Development of Tourism Act 1969. The funds for this scheme in England were increased following its extension from the assisted areas in August 1982.
Local authority tourism projects in the assisted areas continue to be eligible for support from the European regional development fund. The Government have encouraged areas which lost Assisted Area status in the changes announced on 28 November 1984 to take advantage of the special transitional arrangement which it secured on their behalf with the European Commission, enabling applications to be submitted to the Commission by 31 March 1985 provided that the bulk of expenditure on those projects will be incurred by 30 November 1985.
§ Mr. Maddenasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will broaden the definition of regional assisted areas eligible for European Economic Community tourism assistance to include both rural development areas and the textile industry and coal and steel industry restructuring areas.
§ Mr. TrippierI shall reply to the hon. Member as soon as possible.