§ Mr. Sean Hughesasked the Prime Minister if she will estimate the number of man-weeks of employment created by the Government's regional industrial policy in each region of the United Kingdom in the last 12 months.
§ The Prime Minister[pursuant to her reply, 1 May 1985, c. 138]: The available evidence suggests that by 1981 there were of the order of half a million more jobs in the United Kingdom assisted areas than there would have been if regional industrial policy had not operated throughout the period since 1960. No comparable figure is available to indicate how many jobs were lost in non-assisted areas as a consequence of the policy during the period. No regional breakdown of this figure is available and there are no more comparable up-to-date estimates of regional industrial policy's cumulative impact on employment in the assisted areas.
§ Mr. Sean Hughesasked the Prime Minister what has been the total cost of the Government's regional industrial incentives in each region of the United Kingdom over the last 12 months.
§ The Prime Minister[pursuant to her reply, 1 May 1985, c. 138]: The cost of regional industrial incentives in each region of the United Kingdom in the year to 31 March 1985 is provisionally estimated as follows:
Region *£ million Northern 122.2 North West 100.5 Yorkshire and Humberside 42.1 East Midlands 10.2 South West 13.2 Scotland 181.1 Wales 140.7 Northern Ireland †134.9 United Kingdom ‡744.9 * The items included in the table are Regional Development Grants and Regional Selective Financial Assistance under the Industrial Development Act 1982, and assistance on land and factories in the assisted areas by the English Industrial Estates Corporation and the Scottish and Welsh Development Agencies. The figures provided are based on provisional estimates of expenditure, and exclude the administrative costs of operating departments which are, of course, substantial. † Northern Ireland has a different range of incentives but the figure shown has been restricted to items similar to the main forms of regional incentives available in Great Britain. ‡ All figures are gross and include payments to national industries.
§ Mr. Sean Hughesasked the Prime Minister what is the latest estimate of the cost per job created under the Government's regional industrial policy over the past 12 months in each region of the United Kingdom.
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§ The Prime Minister[pursuant to her reply, 1 May 1985, c. 138]: An estimate would need to take account of the expenditure undertaken by Government in support of specific projects, and of the private sector expenditure involved; and would need to take account not only of new jobs, but also jobs safeguarded or the extent of lost jobs through reorganisation within firms, and of the way in which such jobs are sustained. All of this needs to be considered against the expectation of employment in the absence of a policy.
No such estimates are therefore available.