§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the inward investment projects in Staffordshire which his Department has announced(a) since May 1997 and (b) between 1992 and 1997, giving in each case the (i) location, (ii) cash investment and (iii) number of jobs created; and if he will make a statement. [74547]
§ Mr. WillsThere is no obligation for foreign-ownedor—or indigenous—businesses to inform Government of the details of Inward Investment for reasons of commercial confidentiality. However, information collected by the West Midlands Development Agency, the regional development organisation, shows 59 cases of investment by foreign-owned companies in Staffordshire in the period from May 1992 to September 1998, of which 16 were since May 1997. Cumulative investment, where announced, totalled £644 million. Some 2,489 jobs were created and 7,985 safeguarded. Their records show that 21 of these investments were in the Tamworth area; 9 in Lichfield; 8 in Cannock; 7 in Burton-on-Trent and 6 in Stoke-on-Trent.
930WThrough the Department's Invest in Britain Bureau, the regional development organisations and their regional partners, Government continue to seek to attract inward investment and to ensure that existing inward investors both maintain their investments and undertake future expansions in this country.