§ Mr. Peter AtkinsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list all the regional aid measures initiated by his Department to aid the north-east; what is the level of(a) Government and (b) private investment in each case; and what is the number of jobs created and safeguarded through each scheme.
§ Mr. Sainsbury[holding answer 11 January 1993]: Since April 1984, two regional aid schemes run by my Department assisted private investment and were linked to employment. The schemes were regional selective assistance and the revised regional development grants scheme.
Regional selective assistance is available to firms in the assisted areas for investment projects which either create or safeguard employment. Since April 1984 to end December 1992 my Department offered £289 million which was accepted by firms in the north-east in support of projects estimated at £2,865 million. Up to the end December 1992, grant totalling £181 million had been paid in respect of those projects which had created 31,232 jobs and safeguarded a further 8,473.
Under the revised regional development grants scheme which was introduced in development ares in November 1984 and was closed to new applications in March 1988, no grant was paid to undertakings employing more than 200 people unless their projects created employment. To be eligible for grant, projects had to be approved. The amount of capital expenditure that was approved for grant in the north-east was £1,843 million. Since the inception of the scheme up to the end December 1992 grants totalling £193 million had been paid to companies in the north-east and during that time 51,909 jobs had been created.
My Department also provides assistance under the regional enterprise grants scheme aimed at assisting small enterprises with, inter alia, investment projects. Projects supported by this scheme have created employment in the north-east; however, as grant is not directly linked to job creation, employment data are not collected.