§ Mr. Ronnie CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what were the amounts spent on industrial, investments and environmental improvements by the northern development agency in the Blyth Valley constituency, in each year since 1983.
§ Mr. AtkinsI have been asked to reply.
The Northern Development Company (NDC) has been in existence only since July 1986. In the current financial year this Department has made available £908,000 to the NDC for its inward investment promotion activities, and a further £210,000 for a wider range of activities aimed at the regeneration of the region's economy. The NDC does not engage directly in industrial investment or environmental improvement activities. The NDC's total budget for this year is £1,844,000. However, information is not available on the geographical spread of NDC expenditure.
The NDC's predecessor was the North of England Development Council, which was concerned solely with inward investment and export promotion.