§ 5. Mr. CorbynTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list for each year since 1983 the total level of government financial assistance given to private industry under aid and job creation schemes and his estimates of the total number of jobs created by this assistance.
§ Mr. NewtonExpenditure on regional assistance in Great Britain in the five financial years beginning April286W 1983 was £730 million, £710 million, £690 million, £860 million and £660 million respectively. The programmes making up these totals are being listed in the Official Report. It is too soon to estimate the net effect of this expenditure on employment in the assisted areas. In gross terms some 185,000 jobs were created or safeguarded by projects for which offers of regional selective assistance were made from 1983–84 onwards, and 97,000 were created in projects for which payments were made under the revised regional development grant scheme.
In addition, the Government have directly assisted job creation and safeguarding through its network of inner city task forces in England; through the urban programme; and through the employment measures of the Department of Employment.
The annual figures quoted in the reply comprise expenditure under the following:
- Original and revised Regional Development Grant schemes
- Regional Selective Assistance project and training grants
- Business Improvement Services Scheme (Better Business Services and Better Technical Services in Scotland)
- Exchange Risk Guarantee Scheme
- English Industrial Estates Corporation and the Scottish and Welsh Development Agencies
- Highland and Islands Development Board and the Mid-Wales Development Board