§ Mr. MaclennanTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his answer of 29 February 2000,Official Report, column 260W, on assisted areas, what are the problems of population sparsity affecting the Inverness travel-to-work area. [115781]
§ Dr. Reid[holding answer 21 March 2000]: Extremely low population density leads to additional costs in the provision of goods and services. There is a lack of economies of scale and, in combination with peripherality, this makes for structural economic weaknesses. The whole of the Highlands and Islands Enterprise area was thus proposed for inclusion in the new Assisted Areas map.