HC Deb 24 February 1995 vol 255 cc362-3W
Mr. Cousins

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will identify the sites and locations where foreign direct investment has created 300 or more jobs from 1984 onwards; and if he will provide a regional assessment of the total employment created by such investment as at 1 January.

Mr. Eggar

I regret that information in the detail requested by the hon. Member is available only at disproportionate cost.

However, from 1984–85 to 1993–94, the latest year for which complete figures are available, 154 projects expected to create 300 or more new jobs were notified to my Department's Investment in Britain Bureau. These were expected to create nearly 106,000 new jobs, the regional breakdown of which was expected to he as follows:

Region Number of new jobs
North East 9,235
North West 5,747
Yorkshire/Humberside 6,275
West Midlands 14,941
South West 5,123
East Midlands 6,966
South East 16,950
Northern Ireland 7,106
Scotland 22,517
Wales 10,809
Total 105,669

In addition, a total of 5,281 jobs were expected to be safeguarded.

These figures are based on information provided to the Invest in Britain Bureau by companies themselves at the time of the announcement of the decision to invest. There is no requirement to notify the Department, so the figures include only those projects where the Invest in Britain Bureau and its regional partners were involved or which have come to their notice. They take no account of subsequent developments.