§ Mr. Batisteasked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many civil servants are employed by his Department in (a) London and the south-east, (b) the south-west, (c) the midlands and (d) the north of England; and what is the budgeted expenditure of his Department for the current year in each of these regions.
§ Mr. ButcherThe number of Department of Trade and Industry staff in post at 1 April 1987 were as follows:
Number London 8,669 South West 194 Midlands 442 North of England 865 Other (Wales and Scotland) 2,443 Total 12,593 Most of the Department's spending programmes are addressed to national objectives, and budgets are not therefore set on a regional basis. The Department's budget for regional support in the assisted areas in the current year is £230 million. Expenditure in the different regions will depend on their respective demand from eligible projects under the relevant schemes. Last year, such expenditure totalled £356 million. A regional breakdown of the bulk of this expenditure (regional development grants and the main programme of regional selective assistance) is as follows, on the basis of spend in DTI regions (aggregated where appropriate):
£ million London and the South East — South West 20.5 Midlands (East and West Midlands) 20.4 North of England (North East, North West and Yorks and Humberside) 277.9 Total 318.8