To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many loans under the valleys loan scheme have been made to date; what is the total value of such loans; how many jobs they have created or safeguarded; and how many of the recipient firms are still in business.
Since 1 April 1988, a total of 178 loans have been placed by the Welsh Development Agency to companies in the valleys programme area. The total value of these loans was just over £1·5 million with an expectation that 799 new jobs would be created. One hundred and twenty-seven—71 per cent.—are in place, with a projection of creating over 550 new jobs and a value of £1·2 million. These figures include loans made under the valleys small loan scheme, the valleys enterprise loan scheme and the rural small loan scheme.
| Value of grant paid by year (£ million) | |||||
| Scheme | 1986–87 | 1987–88 | 1988–89 | 1989–90 | 1990–91 |
| Regional Development Grant II1 | 7·3 | 9·9 | 17·2 | 7·7 | 6·9 |
| Regional Selective Assistance | 8·7 | 9·3 | 11·6 | 8·2 | 7·1 |
| Regional Enterprise Grants2 | — | — | 0·1 | 0·2 | 0·5 |
| Total | 16·0 | 19·2 | 28·9 | 16·1 | 14·5 |
| 1 RDGII closed to new applications 31 March 1988. | |||||
| 2 Scheme introduced 1 April 1988. | |||||
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish the annual changes in unemployment by local authority districts in the valleys
| Unemployed Claimants—Annual changes (October to October) | ||||
| District1 | 1987–88 | 1988–89 | 1989–90 | 1990–91 |
| Blaenau Gwent | -651 | -725 | -500 | 594 |
| Torfaen | -346 | -473 | -53 | 648 |
| Islwyn | -542 | -773 | -86 | 557 |
| Merthyr Tydfil | -462 | -386 | 35 | 397 |
| Cynon Valley | -377 | -721 | -163 | 880 |
| Rhondda | -805 | -702 | 123 | 973 |