§ Mr. DouglasTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what additional resources he anticipates will be given to local authorities and local enterprise companies to counteract the impact on their local economies of the decline in employment arising from the job losses involved by recently announced and anticipated reductions in employment at Rosyth naval base and dockyard.
§ Mr. Allan StewartLocal authorities will be submittiiig financial plans to the Scottish Office in the autumn. These plans will contain the local authorities' proposals for capital expenditure in 1992–93 and subsequent years and it will be up to the authorities concerned to include in these any projects they consider necessary to help tackle employment reductions at Rosyth.
For the current year the local enterprise company for the Rosyth area, Fife Enterprise, has a budget in excess of £22 million. The company has a number of projects and initiatives either planned or already under way to assist training and employment in the area. This includes an audit of the physical and staff resources available at Rosyth. The company has indicated its intention of discussing options with interested parties to identify appropriate action to tackle job reductions at Rosyth; and I am encouraged by the positive response it has already made to the announcement.
The question of additional funding for the local enterprise company is primarily one for Scottish Enterprise in the light of the enterprise company's planned activities, the overall resources available in each financial year and all the circumstances bearing on competing demands for resources. It must also be borne in mind that the reduction in the civilian work force at Rosyth is not due to be completed until March 1995 and will involve some relocations and natural wastage, although there will inevitably be some redundancies.