§ Mr. Kennedyasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Ross, Cromarty and Skye, 17 February, Official Report, column 17, he will give a breakdown of the real terms change by 13 per cent. of the proposed level of grant-in-aid provisions for the Highlands and Islands Development Board in 1986–87 compared with the total for 1985–86, indicating the cash and percentage reduction due to (a) the impending completion of the integrated development programme for the Western Isles, (b) any special payments to the board associated with the Invergordon enterprise zone, (c) any anticipation for profits which the board was anticipating to receive from the realisation of any shareholdings and (d) the net real term reduction in proposed grant-in-aid provision compared with 1985–86.
§ Mr. John MacKay(a) the reduction in grant-in-aid between 1985–86 and 1986–87 is £1,529,000 at estimated 1985–86 prices: this represents 5 per cent. of the total grant in aid provision for 1985–86. The statement in my previous answer to the hon. Member for Ross, Cromarty and Skye that the reduction was mainly due to the impending completion of the Western Isles integrated development programme related to the reductions in cash terms which represents 4.9 per cent. of the total reduction of 9.7 per cent.
(b) none; the last of the special payments associated with the Invergordon enterprise zone was paid to the board in 1984–85.
(c) none; estimated receipts are taken into account in setting the level of grant-in-aid but it is the cash proceeds from the sale of shares and not the profits which count for this purpose.
(d) the net reduction at estimated 1985–86 prices is £4,076,000 which represents 13 per cent. of the total grant-in-aid provision for 1985–86.