§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list in theOfficial Report information available to him on the paper board and timber mills reliant on home-produced timber since 1980, the amount of public subsidy, assistance, grant or other inducement given to encourage the establishment of those plants and the estimated cost to public funds of each job created.
§ Mr. LangInformation in the form requested is not available. However, in 1985 plants classified to the pulp, paper and timber industries* employed some 10,600 people in Scotland with sales of around £533 million. Since 1980, offers of regional selective assistance (RSA) made to firms classified to these industries have amounted to £17.5 million, associated with the creation of 1,420 jobs and the safeguarding of a further 3,140 jobs. Since the inception of the revised regional development grant scheme (RDG2), approvals to companies in the paper board and timber industries have totalled £6–4 million, and been associated with the creation of 840 jobs. It should be noted that some firms may receive both RSA and RDG2 and that where this occurs associated jobs may appear twice in the above figures.
* Pulp, paper and timber industries are defined as plants classified to the following Activity Headings on the 1980 Standard Industrial Classification.4610 Sawmilling, planing, etc. of wood.4620 Manufacture of semi-finished wood products and further processing and treatment of wood.4710 Pulp, paper and board.