§ Mr. MorganTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will give the latest regional statistics available of the share of inward investment projects coming to Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the regions of England; and what share Wales has received from the latest data available of all inward investment projects coming from(a) Japan, (b) North America and (c) Europe. [34249]
§ Mr. EggarMy right hon. Friend the then President of the Board of Trade announced on 4 July 1995,Official Report, columns, 145–46 that a record number of 434 inward investment projects were notified to the Invest in Britain Bureau in 1994–95. The regional breakdown of this total is as follows:
Number Per cent. Wales 50 11.5 Scotland 81 18.7 Northern Ireland 22 5.1 East 12 2.8 East Midlands 44 10.1 North East 38 8.7 North West 49 11.3 South East 37 8.5 South West 21 4.3 West Midlands 62 14.3 Yorkshire/Humberside 18 4.1
Wales's share of all projects coming from the specified countries was as follows: Per cent. Japan 11.4 (5 of 44) North America 11.8 (25 of 212) Europe 13.6 (19 of 140) All the above figures are based on numbers of projects notified to the Invest in Britain Bureau at the time of the decision to invest. Companies are under no obligation to notify their investment decisions and the figures take no account of subsequent developments.