HC Deb 23 July 1991 vol 195 cc498-9W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what were the amount of grant and number of firms receiving development funds for food processing each year since 1979 to date in(a) Scotland and (b) the northern region.

Mr. Leigh

The table sets out the amount of regional selective assistance accepted by companies since 1980 and the amount of regional development grant paid under the revised scheme since it started in 1985, in Scotland and the Northern region up to and including 1990. Regional selective assistance is not available for 1979 because of the risk of disclosing information that is not in the public domain. Two other schemes—original regional development grants and regional enterprise grants—provided "development funds" over the period. In the case of the original regional development grants scheme, the amount paid is available only at disproportionate costs. As far as regional enterprise grants are concerned, no funds have been made available to the food processing industry in Scotland or in the Northern region since the scheme's inception in 1988.

hon. Member for Chesterfield (Mr. Benn) on 14 June 1990. Both letters were sent to the Secretary of State for Employment and he asked that they be copied to my Department. However, although the Department records all incoming correspondence, there is no record of their reaching this Department.

Mr. Vaz

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to the oral answer of the Lord President of the Council,Official Report, column 496, what inquiries have been undertaken in his Department to discover what happened to the letters about BCCI sent to his Department in June 1990; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Lilley

Correspondence arriving in Ministers' offices is recorded on a computer system. These computer records have been checked and there is no indication that the Department received a copy of the letter of 14 July 1990 from the Secretary of State for Employment to the right hon. Member for Chesterfield (Mr. Benn). In addition, inquiries have been made of those parts of the Department to which the correspondence might have been referred, and again no trace has been found.