27.
asked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will publish a table showing the value of grants given to each regional development association, and in total, for job promotion and the provision of employment opportunities, relating this to the level of unemployment and indicating where he is dissatisfied with disparities.
Grants in aid are paid to regional development associations to support promotional activities in respect of assisted areas. Figures are:
| Region | Grant aid 1977–78 | Development Area unemployment* | Unemployment in the region as a whole* |
| £ | |||
| North | 250,000 | 105,743 | 105,743 |
| North-West | 135,000 | 82,969 | 205,360 |
| Yorkshire | 30,000 | 5,015 | 115,126 |
| * Provisional figures for January 1977. | |||
asked the Secretary of State for Industry what was the value of new buildings, works and adaptations, and the value of new machinery, plant and mining works, respectively, qualifying for regional development grant in the North-West Region for each of the last five 12-month periods for which figures are available; and what are the same figures subdivided as to special development, development and intermediate areas.
The amounts of eligible expenditure in the North-West Region on which regional development grants were paid in the four financial years 1972–73 to 1975–76, and in the nine months April-December 1976, are as follows:
| (£'000) | ||||||||||
Plant and Machinery
| Building and Works
| |||||||||
Period
| Special Development Area
| Development Area
| Total
| Special Development Area
| Development Area
| Intermediate Area
| Total
| Total Plant And Machinery Building and Works
| ||
| 1972–73 | … | … | Nil | 1,020 | 1,020 | Nil | 35 | 350 | 385 | 1,405 |
| 1973–74 | … | … | Nil | 55,880 | 55,880 | Nil | 6,180 | 18,360 | 24,540 | 80,420 |
| 1974–75 | … | … | 17,268 | 125,335 | 142,603 | 3,977 | 13,650 | 41,325 | 58,952 | 201,555 |
| 1975–76 | … | … | 91,336 | 53,675 | 145,011 | 18,304 | 7,900 | 57,355 | 83,559 | 228,570 |
| 9 months April-December 1976 | … | … | 103,418 | 18,355 | 121,773 | 24,209 | 2,735 | 43,615 | 70,559 | 192,332 |
| Total | … | … | 212,022 | 254,265 | 466,287 | 46,490 | 30,500 | 161,005 | 237,995 | 704,282 |
| Expenditure Prior to 22nd March 1972 is not eligible for grant. | ||||||||||
| Applications for grant cover widely varying periods of expenditure, so that grant payments made reflect expenditure in the relevant financial year as well as expenditure in previous years. No statistics are maintained, by standard region, of the actual periods in which the expenditure is incurred. Merseyside was upgraded from DA to SDA status in August 1974. | ||||||||||