HC Deb 15 December 1994 vol 251 cc758-9W
Mr. Worthington

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the cost to public funds of making the site in Clydebank ready for use by the Health Care International hospital.

Mr. Stewart

[holding answer 7 December 1994]: The Scottish Development Agency—Scottish Enterprise incurred expenditure of around £10 million under its land renewal powers on the site now occupied by the company at Clydebank. This work was required to deal with the effects of industrial dereliction, including particularly the presence of asbestos. The expenditure was not specific to the HCI project and would have been required in any case to render the site safe and capable of development for any future use.

Mr. Worthington

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will tell the Scottish Affairs Committee how much regional selective assistance was made available to Health Care International in Clydebank and the terms under which it was made available.

Mr. Stewart

[holding answer 7 December 1994]: Yes. The company received an offer of £22 million in regional selective assistance. The grant was to be paid in instalments related to capital expenditure on construction of the hospital and—in respect of later instalments—in respect of numbers of direct jobs created.

Mr. Worthington

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) whether he will make available to the Scottish Affairs Committee the detailed information on which he made his decision to give public support to Health Care International in 1987;

(2) what considerations led to his decision to classify 1987 information about the market for the treatment of overseas patients in Clydebank as being currently commercially confidential, as indicated in his answer of 3 November, Official Report, column 1315, and his subsequent letter.

Mr. Stewart

[holding answer 7 December 1994]: The documents relating to the appraisal of the company's application for regional selective assistance and the detailed market evaluation studies undertaken in connection with the project contain commercially confidential information which, if disclosed, could harm the competitive position of Health Care International (Scotland) Ltd. or of any other organisation which takes over the operation of the Clydebank facility.