§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the range and criteria of schemes to subsidise the building of passenger ships available to United Kingdom shipyards; and how many such yards he expects to be eligible in 1992–93 and 1993–94.
§ Mr. SainsburyThe shipbuilding intervention fund provides assistance to United Kingdom merchant shipbuilders to enable them to secure orders against competition from outside the EC. The level of grant is intended to allow yards to secure orders at what would otherwise be loss making prices but to break even on the resulting contracts. The maximum grant available for 1992 is 9 per cent. for ships costing more than £7.1 million and 4.5 per cent. for smaller ships. Grants are available for merchant vessels, including dredgers, of not less than 100 gross registered tons, fishing vessels of not less than 100 gross registered tons intended for non-Community based owner and tugs of not less than 365KW. For 1992, grants are available to all merchant shipbuilders which have built a qualifying vessel within the last three years and which were not privatised as warship builders. No decision about availability of grants for future years has yet been taken.