§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish estimates of the expenditure likely in his valleys initiative under headings of the sources of the moneys such as urban aid, private industry, local authority, European Economic Community, Welsh Development Agency and so on.
§ Mr. Peter Walker[holding answer 20 June 1988]: I estimate that over the three years of the new valleys programme expenditure on key programmes for the promotion of economic development will total some £529 million. I anticipate that approximately £215 million of this will be spent on Welsh Development Agency factory building, regional development grants, regional selective assistance and other investment assistance; some £164 million will be spent on urban programme schemes, urban development grants, road improvements, derelict land clearance and other environmental measures and £150 million on industrial training and work experience programmes.
On past experience, the payment of regional development grants and regional selective assistance on the scale envisaged would lead to additional private sector investment of well over £1 billion. In addition there will, of course, be substantial private sector investment not linked to such assistance.
501WIt is not possible to give exact figures for local authority expenditure, but it is estimated that (excluding their expenditure on the key programmes identified above) their spending in the valleys in 1988–89 will be of the order of £500 million.
It is estimated that European regional development fund (ERDF) grants totalling £26 million are likely to be available to projects in the valleys as part of the Mid Glamorgan national programme of community interest. The proposed integrated operations programme for industrial south Wales may also attract a further £100 million from the ERDF and European social fund in the years to 1992.