§ Mr. Gareth Wardellasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish in the Official Report the total regional development grant paid in each standard planning region for each year since 1979.
§ Mr. TrippierThe information requested is given in the following table:
£ million Total grants 1,359.0 Total loans/equity 18.7 The figure for regional development grants relates to the northern region, including Cumbria; those for other assistance relate to the present north-eastern region.
§ Mr. Ron Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will give the total expenditure by central Government in regional aid to each English region and Wales for each year since 1979 in cash and real terms using 1984 as the base year.
§ Mr. TrippierGovernment expenditure since 1979 on regional aid to Wales and the regions of England is as follows:
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Region 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 East Midlands† 4.3 4.2 4.5 8.6 13.6 17.6 South West 9.5 10.7 11.5 14.8 16.2 11.9 England‡ 299.5 281.5 345.8 435.1 364.4 293.9 Wales 106.1 104.3 170.8 198.2 181.7 113.5
2. Expenditure at 1983–84 prices*║ £ million Region 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 Northern 270.6 214.5 179.5 196.3 166.4 127.5 North West 150.1 125.8 161.1 175.8 127.8 101.4 Yorks/Humber 63.8 46.6 64.0 68.8 55.2 35.5 East Midlands† 7.3 6.1 5.5 9.6 14.2 17.6 South West 16.1 15.5 14.1 16.5 16.9 11.9 England‡ 507.8 408.6 424.2 484.5 380.5 293.9 Wales 179.9 151.4 209.5 220.7 189.7 113.5 Notes: * All figures are gross and include payments to nationalised industries. † Includes West Midlands for earlier years. Oswestry TTWA lost its Intermediate Area status on 1 August 1982. ‡ The 1981–82 figures for England include items which cannot be broken down between the Northern and North West regions. The amount involved at current prices is £15.7 million (£17.5 million at 1983–84 prices). ║ Current price expenditure was converted to constant prices by use of the GDP deflator. The items included in the expenditure are regional development grants and regional selective financial assistance under the Industrial Development Act 1982, and expenditure on land and factories in the assisted areas by the English Industrial Estates Corporation and the Welsh Development Agency.
§ Mr. Ron Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will estimate the per capita spending on regional aid by central Government for each region in England for each year since 1979.
§ Mr. TrippierThe following table is based on the total of expenditure on regional development grants and
Region 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 Northern 82.7 76.4 75.7 91.1 82.2 65.8 North West 22.5 22.1 33.4 40.0 30.9 25.6 Yorkshire & Humberside 12.6 10.7 17.4 20.5 17.4 11.7 East Midlands* 1.9 1.8 1.9 3.6 5.7 7.3 South West 3.7 4.2 4.4 5.6 6.1 4.5 * Includes west midlands for earlier years. Oswestry TTWA in the west midlands lost its intermediate area status on 1 August 1982.
§ Mr. Ron Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what, in respect of the year 1983–84, was the total number of jobs created in each region in England by means of selective financial assistance; and what is his estimate of the average cost of such jobs created.
§ Mr. TrippierThe information requested is not available. However, under section 7 of the Industrial Development Act 1982, the assistance offered for job creation projects together with the related estimated number of jobs to be created and the average cost of each job, during 1983–84 by English regions is as follows:
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Offer Value £ million
Estimated New Jobs Cost per Job £
North-East 12.46 5,770 2,160 North-West 6.7 2,775 2,415 Yorkshire and Humberside 7.6 3,313 2,293 South-West 3.67 1,365 2,690 East Midlands 6.35 2,577 2,465 regional selective assistance under the Industrial Development Act 1982 and its predecessor legislation, and expenditure on land and factories in the assisted areas by the English Industrial Estates Corporation. It gives the amount of such expenditure per member of the yearly average of the working population in the calendar year in which the financial year ends as the working population is a better indicator than the total population of a region's economic base. The 1983 working population figure is the latest available and has been applied to the figures for the financial year 1983–1984.
The jobs are expected to be created over a four to five-year period if the projects go according to plan.
§ Mr. Ron Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the number of applications for selective financial assistance approved by his Department for each region in England in 1983–84.
§ Mr. TrippierThe number of applications offered selective financial assistance under sections 7 and 8 of the Industrial Development Act 1982 in each region in England in 1983–84 is as follows:
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Section 7 Number of offers Section 8 Number of offers North-East 191 186 North-West 138 574 Yorkshire and Humberside 118 439 South-West 40 480 East Midlands 78 396 West Midlands n/a 851 South-East n/a 2,136 n/a=Not applicable