HC Deb 16 February 1989 vol 147 cc372-3W
Mr. Speller

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many and what value of section 4 grants have been made for each of the past five years in the north Devon area.

Mr. Lee

I regret that this information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Speller

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many and what value of section 4 grants have been made for each of the past five years in the Duchy of Cornwall.

Mr. Lee

Under section 4 of the Development of Tourism Act 1969, the English tourist board has offered assistance to projects in Cornwall, during the last five years, as follows:

Financial Year Number of projects Total assistance offered

£

1984–85 41 572,870
1985–86 43 433,009
1986–87 55 757,556
1987–88 36 568,948
11988–89 22 618,625
1 To January 1989.

Mr. Speller

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many section 4 grants have been made for each of the past five years in the West Country tourist board area; and what was their total value.

Mr. Lee

Offers of assistance made by the English tourist hoard under section 4 of the Development of Tourism Act 1969 to projects in the West Country tourist board area during the five years up to March 1988 were as follows:

Year Number of projects Total value of assistance offered

£

1983–84 116 2,760,000
1984–85 125 1,934,000
1985–86 156 2,464,000
1986–87 201 3,519,000
1987–88 157 3,125,000

Mr. Speller

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will lift his suspension of section 4 grants for the south-west of England to bring their regulations in line with those for Scotland and Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Lee

No. The particular scheme of assistance operated in England under section 4 of the Development of Tourism Act 1969 has been suspended pending consideration of this and a number of other issues arising out of the review of tourism policy.

Mr. Speller

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many section 4 grants have been paid out to firms in Devon during each of the past five years for which statistics are available.

Mr. Lee

Under section 4 of the Development of Tourism Act 1969, the English tourist board has offered assistance to projects in Devon, during the last five years, as follows:

Financial Year Number of Projects
1984–85 43
1985–86 73
1986–87 83
1987–88 78
1988–891 47
1 (to January 1989)

Mr. Meacher

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list all projects financed by section 4 tourism grants in each region during each year since 1979 giving in each case the size of the grant and the percentage of the total expenditure on the project this represented.

Mr. Lee

This information can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.