asked the Secretary of State for Industry how many companies applied to him for financial assistance in 1974; and how this compares with the numbers for 1972 and 1973.

The information is as follows:

The EEC Commission has given the following figures in the European Parliament:

	£ million
1973–74 (15 months to March 1974)	35
1974 (from March)	5·5

These figures cover four applications in the first period, and three in the second. However, the figure for 1973–74 includes one loan of £10 million, the final application for which, following discussions during both periods, was made in April 1974, and another loan for which a supplementary application of £7·5 million was made in December 1974. Thus, the use of a different, although equally valid, definition of "application" from that used by the Commission would result in the following figures:

	£ million
1973–74 (15 months to March 1974)	25
1974 (from March)	23

No applications were made in 1972.