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Departmental Inquiries

Volume 923: debated on Monday 20 December 1976

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asked the Secretary of State for Industry further to the reply given to the hon. Member for Wirral on 18th November 1976, if he will give the estimated total cost of statistical inquiries borne on the Votes of his Department in 1976–77, including those statistical inquiries carried out by other Departments, but the cost of which is borne on the said Votes, giving also the estimated total number of civil servants engaged thereon, specifying whether full-time or part-time.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade, further to the reply given to the hon. Member for Wirral on 18th November 1976, if he will give the estimated total cost of statistical inquiries borne on the Votes of his Department in 1976–77, including those statistical inquiries carried out by other Departments, but the cost of which is borne on the said Votes, giving also the estimated total number of civil servants engaged thereon, specifying whether full-time or part-time;

asked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection, further to the reply given to the hon. Member for Wirral on 18th November 1976, if he will give the estimated total cost of statistical inquiries borne on the Vote of his Department in 1976–77, including those statistical inquiries carried out by other Departments, but the cost of which is borne on the said Vote, giving also the estimated total number of civil servants engaged thereon, specifying whether full-time or part-time.

I have been asked to reply to similar Questions tabled by the hon. Member to my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Trade and for Prices and Consumer Protection, as the three Departments share a common statistical service.The estimated total cost, borne on the Department of Industry Vote in 1976–77, of carrying out a very wide range of statistical inquiries designed not only to meet the specific needs of the three Departments but to provide data for the use of other economic Departments and to meet the requirements of the EEC, is £5·1 million.Apart from these other Departments, which include Her Majesty's Treasury, the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food, the Departments of Energy and the Environment, the Scottish Office and the Welsh Office, the needs of the business community and the general public are also served.The number of civil servants involved is about 1,200, full time.

asked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will give details of the number of companies which have closed down in the Skelmersdale New Town since 1964, giving, in each case, (a) the total amount received from the Government by way of Government grants, &c., (b) the number of male and female jobs lost and (c) the amount of compensation, if any, which was repaid to the Government.

, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 16th December 1976; Vol. 922, c. 805], gave the following information:I regret that information in the format requested is not available. Before Part IV of the Employment Protection Act came into effect in March 1976 redundancies were notified voluntarily. We are aware of 27 closures since 1964 in Skelmersdale, involving about 4,100 jobs. Apart from lists of substantial individual payments of regional development grants and selective financial assistance under Section 7 of the Industry Act 1972, which are published quarterly in "Trade and Industry", information about regional development grants, selective financial assistance under Section 7 of the Industry Act 1972, and investment grants is regarded as confidential between the Department and the company concerned. The Department has the right to require repayment if the conditions attached to regional development grants or loans under Section 7 are not met.