asked the Secretary of State for Industry what adjustments to the calculation of expenditure per capita in his reply, Official Report, 8 August, column 468, would render the respective figures for the three areas and for Northern Ireland reasonably comparable.

The removal of £5.8 million for payments to the Northern Ireland Development Agency, thereby reducing the expenditure per capital to £71, is an appropriate adjustment to make the Northern Ireland figure reasonably comparable to the figures for the three areas mentioned in the written answer of 8 August 1980.