§ Mr. RoweTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many jobs have been created in the United Kingdom by(a) direct investment from within the EU and (b) direct investment from elsewhere and how many secondary to (a) and (b). [29007]
§ Mr. EggarI have been asked to reply.
Between 1979–80 and 1993–94, the last year for which figures are available, inward investment projects from within the EU, notified to the Invest in Britain Bureau, were expected to create nearly 51,000 new jobs and safeguard over 130,000 existing jobs. Over the same period, projects from outside the EU were expected to create over 229,000 jobs and safeguard nearly 228,000 existing jobs. No estimate has been made of the number of secondary jobs associated with those projects, although benefits to other UK-based companies will occur through the supplier chain. A study published in 1991, based on a sample of inward investors, estimated that those investors had bought over 50 per cent. of their capital equipment within the UK.
Those figures are based on information provided by companies themselves at the time of the decision to invest and take no account of subsequent developments. Companies are under no obligation to notify investment decisions to the Department and the figures are therefore based only on projects that have come to the attention of the Department's Invest in Britain Bureau.