§ Mr. Hawksleyasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many firms have applied for regional selective assistance in the west midlands since it became available there; how many applications have been approved; how these applications are divided between firms employing (a) one to 10 persons, (b) 11 to 20 persons or (c) 21 to 50 persons; how much money has been approved in each category; and what figure was the smallest amount approved in each category to an individual firm.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThere have been 607 applications. So far 188 formal offers of grant have been made to a total value of £22.6 million and this is associated with some 13,800 jobs either created or safeguarded. I regret that a breakdown of grant offers by company employee sizeband is not yet available, but grants have ranged from £3,000 towards projects from the smaller companies to well over £1 million in the larger cases.