§ Mr. Raymond S. RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish the details of the £70 million package of construction-related work which he announced following the Chancellor of the Exchequer's "Autumn Statement".
§ Mr. LangI have now decided on the £70 million package of measures to be undertaken in the current financial year to assist the Scottish economy.
I have distributed the resources between programmes to achieve a rapid impact on construction and related industries. As a result, a broad range of programmes is involved, and a large number of bodies in both Central and local government will receive additions to their programmes for the current year.
I have allocated a total of £20 million for additional expenditure on housing. One component of this package will be £7.5 million for homelessness, which will be made available to local authorities on the basis of proposals I will ask them to submit by 11 December. The balance will be issued to local authorities as additional allocations. My hon. Friend the Minister for education and housing will be announcing the distribution to individual councils when he meets local authority representatives on Monday 23 November.
This housing package is, of course, in addition to the benefits which Scottish Homes will receive from the repayment of debt which I announced last week.
274WThe remaining £50 million will be divided among several Central and local government programmes. A total of £9.5 million will be given for special enterprise, economic development and environmental improvement projects to be undertaken by Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the new town development corporations and the urban regeneration initiatives.
The current year's trunk roads programme will be supplemented by £8.5 million, to allow additional starts on a number of schemes and on highly desirable maintenance and improvement works, including installation of more Central reservation safety barriers. There will be an additional £5 million for local authority roads projects.
There will be an additional £10.25 million for the health service and social work capital programmes, to be spent on a large number of projects across the country, focusing on upgrading and maintenance works and works to improve energy efficiency. There will be an extra £5 million for capital expenditure on schools, including £400,000 for grant-aided schools not in the local authority sector.
A further £0.75 million will be used to expand the programme for modernisation of prisons. There will be El million extra for police capital expenditure, and an additional £2.5 million for local authority general services.
On the water and sewerage programme, I have allocated a further £6.5 million for projects in the current year to service new developments and to make continuing progress with environmental improvements.
I have also allocated £1 million additional provision for historic buildings repair grant.
I shall publish details of the individual allocations and projects to be supported as soon as possible.
This is a package specially designed to secure an immediate impact on the construction industry in all its sectors. It will bring employment opportunities where employment is most needed, and it will help continue the modernisation of Scotland's infrastructure. The work is to be completed by the end of March and I estimate that the package will sustain around 4,000 jobs directly and through suppliers over this period.