HC Deb 02 November 1987 vol 121 cc502-3W
Mr. Henderson

asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will provide figures for (a) imports of cement to the United Kingdom in the first, second and third quarter of 1987, by both tonnage and value, (b) imports of Greek cement to the United Kingdom in the first, second and third quarter of 1987, by both tonnage and value, (c) exports of cement from the United Kingdom in the first, second and third quarter of 1987, by both tonnage and value and (d) the estimated total sales of cement, by both tonnage and value, in the first, second and third quarters of 1987.

Mr. Atkins

Information for the third quarter of 1987 and on sales of cement are not available. Details on imports and exports for the first two quarters are given in the following table.

Mr. Atkins

Following the announcement on 26 October of the fifth round of 1987 European regional development fund allocations, the allocations to the United Kingdom in respect of projects can be summarised as follows:

Region Allocation (£) Per cent.
North 0.75 0.7
Yorkshire and Humberside 1.03 0.9
South West 8.81 7.7
West Midlands 22.01 19.3
North West 16.06 14.1
Wales 20.18 17.7
Scotland 18.81 16.5
Northern Ireland 26.11 23.0
Total 113.76 100

The allocations in respect of United Kingdom projects represent approximately 5 per cent. of the 1987 European Community budget for the European regional development fund. To date 53 per cent. of the fund has been allocated on projects, programmes and studies. We have not yet received an analysis of these from the Commission.

Three further allocations in respect of 1987 remain to be announced. A region's position should be judged on the basis of all the allocations in a year. Final decisions rest with the European Commission.

To date, in 1987, six projects to the value of £660,000 in the northern region have been granted European regional development fund support. Eighty-four applications from the northern region have been made to the value of £108 million. Further awards to the region are likely. Seventeen projects from the northern region were rejected or withdrawn.

Information is not collected in such a way as to permit an analysis of local authority projects submitted to Her Majesty's Government before or after 19 May. However, the number of projects submitted to the European Commission so far in 1987 is 352, of which 205 were submitted before 19 May. Of these projects, 15 have so far been approved by the Commission. During the course of 1987 a further 29 projects have been approved which were submitted in 1986 or earlier.