HC Deb 08 July 1987 vol 119 cc174-5W
27. Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones

asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what is his Department's total budget for regional aid to industry for the current financial year; and what was the corresponding sum for 1979–80 at current prices.

Mr. Atkins

In the Department's budget for 1987–88 £208 million gross is provided for regional aid to industry in England. Expenditure in 1979–80 for regional aid in England amounted to £517 million at 1987 prices.

Responsibility for regional aid to industry in Wales falls to the Welsh Office.

Mr. Forth

asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will give, for each region of the United Kingdom, for each of the last 10 years, the expenditure on regional aid and assistance.

Mr. Atkins

The information requested is as follows:

Expenditure at current prices
£ million
Region 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 41986–87
Northern 152.8 159.6 147.8 146.3 176.3 159.3 127.5 122.2 94.4 135.5
North West 65.8 88.5 86.7 131.3 157.9 122.4 101.4 101.6 85.9 125.3
Yorkshire and Humberside 30.8 37.6 32.1 52.2 61.8 52.9 35.5 41.9 34.3 38.7
East Midlands 2.7 4.3 4.2 4.5 8.6 13.6 17.6 10.1 8.3 10.5
West Midlands3 — — — — — — — — 5.5 9.8
South West 8.6 9.5 10.7 11.5 14.8 16.2 11.9 13.7 11.8 20.7
Scotland 134.8 148.2 117.9 182.8 220.1 370.9 222.4 184.5 204.7 241.6
Wales 88.9 106.1 104.3 170.8 198.2 181.7 113.5 141.1 132.1 144.3
Great Britain2 488.8 606.1 519.0 705.9 853.6 917.0 629.8 615.0 577.0 726.4
Northern Ireland 71.9 115.4 109.4 145.8 115.2 146.8 103.0 137.5 154.8 129.1
United Kingdom 560.7 721.5 628.4 851.7 968.8 1,063.8 732.8 752.5 731.8 855.5

Notes:

1All figures are gross and include payments to nationalised industries.

2 The Great Britain total does not always equal the sum of the component parts due to the inclusion of items which cannot he broken down to the regional level and to rounding.

3The figures relate to expenditure in the TTWAs designated as assisted areas on 29 November 1984. Expenditure totalling £400,000 in the period 1977–78 to 1982–83 is included in the figures for east midlands in respect of Oswestry TTWA which ceased to be an assisted area on 1 August 1982.

4Figures for 1986–87 arc provisional estimates.

The items included in the expenditure are regional development grants and regional selective assistance, expenditure on land and factories by the English Industrial Estates Corporation, the Scottish and Welsh Development Agencies, the Development Board for Rural Wales, and the Highlands and Islands Development Board. Northern Ireland has a different range of financial incentives available and the items included in the expenditure have been restricted to aids similar to the main forms of regional preferential assistance; these are selective financial assistance currently payable under part III of the industries Development (Northern Ireland) Order 1982, general assistance (capital) grants payable under part IV of the order, and land and factories expenditure.