---

Scottish Homes, Inverclyde

Dr. Godman: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will allow the Inverclyde district council to take over the ownership and management of those houses in the Inverclyde district which, at the moment, are owned by Scottish Homes if the tenants indicate, by way of an independently controlled ballot, that it is their wish to become tenants of the council; and if he will make a statement. [4830]

Mr. Raymond S. Robertson: Existing arrangements do not preclude local authorities from bidding for Scottish Homes stock. However, this would be allowed only in exceptional circumstances which do not compromise the objective of promoting diversity of choice in rented housing stock.

My right hon. Friend announced on 30 November that he will consider this policy further in response to representations from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. His decision will be announced in due course.

Students (Allowances)

Mr. Gallie: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what changes are planned in the student support and tuition fee arrangements for Scottish domiciled students in session 1996-97. [6378]

Mr. Raymond S. Robertson: I am publishing today the main rates of maintenance allowances payable under the students' allowances scheme and the postgraduate students' allowances scheme, including rates for those courses which do not attract student loans, together with the rates for the various supplementary allowances payable to both undergraduate and vocational postgraduate award holders.

The support available to undergraduate students in 1996-97 through the main rates of maintenance grant and loan, taken together, will be 2.6 per cent. higher than in 1995-96, thus maintaining its value in real terms. Postgraduate maintenance grants and supplementary allowances will be increased by a similar amount.

Tuition fees will continue to be reimbursed to institutions through the student support system on behalf of eligible students. The undergraduate rates will be the same as in 1995-96.

13 Dec 1995 : Column: 648

These changes are consistent with those for England and Wales announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. Details have been placed in the Library.

"The Way Ahead"

Mr. Gallie: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the study of Scottish Natural Heritage which was announced in May. [6421]

Mr. Michael Forsyth: Ministers received the report of the study group in October and I will make arrangements for copies to be placed in the Library of the House.

The Government have noted that since Scottish Natural Heritage was established in 1992 it has been asked to undertake a range of new initiatives. Amongst these have been implementation of the EC Habitats Directive, initiatives on biodiversity arising out of agreements reached at Rio and programmes commissioned by the Secretary of State for Scotland on the Cairngorms, Loch Lomond and environmental education. Taken together, this new work means that the balance of SNH's work has moved, from that envisaged by the Government when they published their plans for SNH in "The Way Ahead" in 1990. I have accepted the main proposal of the report of the study group that a new "The Way Ahead" should be prepared, taking account of changes in natural heritage priorities and levels of Government grant-in-aid likely to be available. I have asked Scottish Office and SNH officials to draft a new version of "The Way Ahead" to take us to the millennium. This will be published in the first half of next year. At that time we shall also announce our full response to the report.

Overseas Companies

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the sums his Department has paid out for each financial year since 1979-80 to companies establishing in Scotland; if he will indicate the number and names of companies involved; and what proportion this represented of the total awards made under regional selective assistance. [1716]

Mr. Kynoch [holding answer 23 November 1995]: Data are not collected in precisely this form. Data are, however, collected on regional selective assistance offered to overseas-owned firms--this will include some overseas-owned firms reinvesting in their existing operations in Scotland and will not include firms owned elsewhere in the United Kingdom which are starting or reinvesting operations in Scotland. Details on individual firms are affected by commercial confidentiality but the other data which the hon. Member seeks are given, for overseas-owned firms, in the table:

13 Dec 1995 : Column: 647

Year	Number of offers accepted	Of which overseas owned firms	Value of offers accepted (£ million)	Of which overseas owned firms	Percentage of offers to overseas owned firms by value
1979-80	186	25	32.2	14.9	46
1980-81	165	38	31.0	18.9	61
1981-82	118	30	29.9	21.4	72
1982-83	220	37	50.4	27.2	54
1983-84	159	39	38.3	18.6	48
1984-85	216	46	70.7	40.9	58
1985-86	134	34	58.6	37.3	64
1986-87	138	20	34.6	16.6	48
1987-88	192	24	56.2	30.5	54
1988-89	195	25	49.8	14.5	29
1989-90	234	36	76.3	32.2	42
1990-91	195	36	173.5	119.9	69
1991-92	160	27	52.3	13.8	26
1992-93	198	41	72.3	36.2	50
1993-94	238	56	126.8	68.1	54
1994-95	246	58	113.0	73.8	65

This table refers to the year in which an offer was originally accepted.

13 Dec 1995 : Column: 649

13 Dec 1995 : Column: 649

Year of initial offer	Number of offers	Of which number accepted
1979-80	199	191
1980-81	177	164
1981-82	134	127
1982-83	243	221
1983-84	167	158
1984-85	242	230
1985-86	119	113
1986-87	156	148
1987-88	200	186
1988-89	221	207
1989-90	243	228
1990-91	214	202
1991-92	170	157
1992-93	214	199
1993-94	259	243
1994-95	246	238

Notes: 1. This table refers to the year in which an initial offer was made. Its subsequent acceptance may have taken place in a subsequent year. 2. In the most recent years, some offers are still outstanding and have not yet been accepted or declined by the company.

Regional Selective Assistance

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many applications for regional selective assistance have been (a) rejected by his Department and (b) accepted for each financial year since 1979-80; and what proportion those rejected represent of the total number of applications received; [1718]

(2) how many offers of regional selective assistance were made to companies by his Department in each financial year since 1979-80; and how many of these were fully accepted by the companies involved. [1733]

Mr. Kynoch [holding answer 23 November 1995]: The data which the hon. Member seeks are set out in the tables.

Year of application	Number of applications received	Number subsequently rejected	Percentage of applications rejected	Number of applications progressing to acceptance
1979-80	300	9	3.0	241
1980-81	97	2	2.1	74
1981-82	189	9	4.8	145
1982-83	257	15	5.8	200
1983-84	262	12	4.6	197
1984-85	259	21	8.1	185
1985-86	154	15	9.7	113
1986-87	179	10	5.6	149
1987-88	234	10	4.3	198
1988-89	255	15	5.9	202
1989-90	314	28	8.9	235
1990-91	239	16	6.7	189
1991-92	203	12	5.9	162
1992-93	246	10	4.1	198
1993-94	307	21	6.8	248
1994-95	307	25	8.1	247

Notes: 1. This table refers to the year in which the application was received. Its acceptance or rejection may have taken place in a subsequent year. 2. As well as being accepted or rejected, applications may be withdrawn by the company before an offer is made, or, if an offer is made, it may be declined by the company. 3. In the most recent years, some offers are still outstanding and have not yet been accepted or declined by the company. 4. Application forms are normally only made available when prior discussion with the company concerned has indicated a reasonable possibility that an application will be successful.

13 Dec 1995 : Column: 650

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many jobs his Department estimates have been (a) safeguarded and (b) created in Scotland in each financial year since 1979-80 by payments made under regional selective assistance; [1725]

(2) how much money was paid to companies operating within each new town in Scotland in regional selective assistance for each year since 1979-80; and how many companies were in receipt of this assistance; [1732]

(3) if he will list (a) the amounts spent on regional selective assistance by his Department, (b) the number of projects covered by his expenditure, (c) the average amount awarded for each application for regional selective assistance, (d) the amounts of money recouped by the Scottish Office in regional selective assistance, (e) the number of companies from which money was recouped and (f) the names of the companies from which the Scottish Office recouped this money for each financial year since 1979-80. [1735]

Mr. Kynoch [holding answer 23 November 1995]: As regards money recouped from companies which had been in receipt of regional selective assistance, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 2 May 1995, Official Report, column 580.

Statistics on regional selective assistance are not collected by reference to new town boundaries.

The other information which the hon. Member seeks is set out in the table.

Year	Number of offers accepted	Value of offers accepted (£ million)	Forecast jobs created	Forecast jobs safeguarded	Average value of offer (£ million)	Total expenditure (£million)
1979-80	186	32.2	11,133	8,699	0.173	17.4
1980-81	165	31.0	11,551	4,717	0.188	21.4
1981-82	118	29.9	8,224	3,799	0.254	17.7
1982-83	220	50.4	9,795	7,560	0.229	19.1
1983-84	159	38.3	8,770	7,057	0.241	22.7
1984-85	216	70.7	10,978	6,682	0.327	30.5
1985-86	134	58.6	8,169	6,458	0.437	35.3
1986-87	138	34.6	4,515	3,470	0.251	34.8
1987-88	192	56.2	8,200	6,574	0.292	37.6
1988-89	195	49.8	8,158	3,654	0.255	37.0
1989-90	234	76.3	10,003	3,862	0.326	40.7
1990-91	195	173.5	16,603	4,621	0.890	68.1
1991-92	160	52.3	6,453	2,005	0.327	64.4
1992-93	198	72.3	8,287	2,792	0.365	59.2
1993-94	238	126.8	11,046	6,235	0.533	69.8
1994-95	246	113.0	12,319	3,965	0.459	77.1

Notes: 1. This table refers to the year in which an offer was initially accepted. The final column relates to total expenditure in the year in question, some of which will arise from offers accepted in earlier years. 2. Where jobs are forecast to be created or safeguarded, that will be over the lifetime of the project, typically 3 to 5 years. Experience indicates that fewer jobs are actually created or safeguarded than originally forecast: around two-thirds. Actual grant payments are set in line with the actual number of jobs created or safeguarded and the level of investment actually undertaken.

13 Dec 1995 : Column: 651

13 Dec 1995 : Column: 651

---