EVOLUTION IN THE COST OF LIVING :

In 1992, consumer goods reached +3.7%, rent +3.2%.

MOVING AROUND :

By train : Train passes are sold by British Rail in France and can be bought before you leave. The 'Flexi-Pass' lets you travel on the rail network in England, Wales and Scotland for 3, 4, 8 or 15 days during a month., the tarif is from 765 FF to 2 095 FF, depending on the length of the trips.

The 'Britrail Pass' is valid on the same network for 4, 8, 15 or 22 days of consecutive travelling. The tarif goes from 770 FF to 2 475 FF approx.

The 'London Southeast Pass' lets you travel freely by rail in the south-east of England for 3, 4 or 7 days of consecutive travelling, the tarif goes from 340 FF to 570 FF approx.

The 'Freedom of Scotland Travelpass' can be used on all the Scottish Railways 'Scotrail' and on the maritime company Caledonian MacBrayne (except for certain islands), for 8 or 15 days of consecutive travelling or for 8 trips spread over 15 days. This card also gives rights to reductions on P&O crossings to the Orkneys or Shetland. Tarifs go from 819 FF to 1 251 FF approx.

Getting around in London : The easiest way is to take the underground or the double decker bus. Rather than buy your tickets in London, buy a 'Visitor Travel Card' in France. You can have unlimited travel using it on all the red buses and the London underground. It costs about 36 FF a day, 120 FF for 3 days, 150 FF for 4 days and 260 FF for 7 days. Reduced prices of 40% for children.

Travelling by Ferry : For stays in Britain, maritime companies propose forfeits including the crossing (on foot or by car) and lodging in London, as well as in the rest of Great Britain.

The Calais /Dover crossing return fare is about 1 000 FF for a car and 2 passengers with a hotel or Bed and Breakfast for 3 nights in Britain. From 800 FF to 1 000 FF in London. A week costs about 2 600 FF.

Sealink and Brittany Ferries offer a stay at about 2 500 FF including the rental of a cottage for a week and the crossing with the car and up to 5 passengers. Brittany Ferries also have an offer of 4 days/3 nights from 640 FF approx. per person (on a basis of 4 people) including the car crossing.

HOUSING : It takes about 2 or 3 weeks to find an appartment for rent in London. The top residential areas are Mayfair, Kensington, Chelsea, Belgravia, Hyde Park and Hampstead. Leases are usually made out for 6 months and renewed informally with the owner. It is necessary to inspect the premises. There is one month rent to be paid in advance., with a guarantee of one month rent. If you rent via an agency the commission is usually also equivalent to one month rent. The appartments usually have fitted kitchens but often only partially.

An indication of rent levels (in £s) : by the week, London and Edinburgh
Furnished room : 150 - 45 ; 300 - 350
2/3 room flat (unfurnished) : 170 - 1,400; 500
3/4 room house/flat (furnished or unfurnished) : 210 - 2,500; 700
5/6 room house/flat (furnished or unfurnished)/ 500 - 5.000; 1,500

Local or ratio taxes are generally included in the rent and paid by the owner depending on the accomodation type. In Edinburgh it is easier to find furnished accomodation. It can take up to 3 months to find.

Rooming : In London renting a room in someone's home costs approx. £50 a month.

HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS :

Table giving an idea of the prices of hotel rooms, restaurant meals and half-board in hotels (in £s) :
Price of a room London; Edinburgh :

Single Double Single Double
Luxury 180 220 100-150 110 - 150
Standard 60 99 60-70 70-80

Price of a meal London Edinburgh
Restaurant 30 à 40 20 à 35
Half- board London Edinburgh (per person)

Luxury hotel 150
Standard hotel 50-70

Note that guest houses offer rooms with breakfast and often also dinner (less expensive and very good) and also don't overlook the Bed and Breakfasts.

MEDICINE :

Table showing tarifs of medical consultation and a day in hospital (in £s)
Average fee for a medical consultation Edinburgh/ Glasgow :
general practitioner £40 - specialist £60 - dentist £35

Cost of a day in hospital Edinburgh/ Glasgow
Public hospital 350 - 400 - Private clinic : depending on the services

CARS :

All French and foreign makes and models are sold in Britain at similar prices to France with an after sales service assured by the dealers. There is a thriving second hand market with very reasonable prices. Maintenance and repairs cost about the same as in France.

Taxes: tax disk : £145 a year for any car
Insurance: Third party is obligatory. In London the insurance premiums vary a lot from £100 to £1,500 for unlimited third-party.
Petrol: The price of a litre of petrol in £ = super : 84 pence, diesel : 60 p.

ON -THE -JOB TRAINING:

Costs for finding on-the-job training often vary between 1,700 and 1,950 FF.
Private organizations dealing with employment and their fees : HOET 1300 - EWEP 1800 - AIGLES 2600-3450 - BHTA 2350 - Eagle UK 1650 - Proeuropa 2500.

INVESTMENT IN THE COUNTY :

Partnerships : Thomson-CSF has created in joint venture with Pilkington Optronics the company Barr and Stroud (which designs and developes systems for la Défense). It employs about 577 people, 30% of which are engineers. There was foreign and national investment in Scotland to the sum of 8.25 billion francs in 1995 (European companies, dominated by American and Japanese companies).

In Glasgow there is a public organization, the Scottish Enterprise, which is in charge of investments (creating jobs, improving productivity and internationalization). There are 13 local branches in Scotland (Local Enterprise Companies). The public organization 'Locate in Scotland' (a joint venture between Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Office) is a unique guide for foreign companies. Services are offered, such as finding a site, industrial buildings and financial aid, and also recommendations in a choice of sub-contractors or staff training. 112 projects concerning setting up or expanding foreign enterprises in Scotland have been dealt with by Locate in Scotland. This represents a total value of 7.7 million francs and 16,000 jobs.

Scotland has two commercial zones which benefit from special aid, one is to the east of Glasgow and the other is at Pretwick airport. They both offer all the necessary infrastructure to companies wanting to set up there.

In East Kilbride a technological park has been opened near UK National Engineering.

Over a 10 year period the commercial zones offer for the first year an exemption from local land tax and a 100% exemption on taxes on new buildings.
Selective Regional Aid is a carefully handled subsidy. Grants can be given up to an amount of 15 to 30% of the investment (including the price of intallations, machinery, buildings etc). Grants for employment and training can cover 50% of the costs.

Scotland also benefits from European aid. The European structural funds participate (as regional assistance) in more than 16% of the total 5.219 billion Ecus allocated to the UK (860 million Ecus). The principal objective - Highlands and Islands - receives a total of 311 million Ecus. The second objective - western and eastern Scotland - receives 407 million Ecus. The fifth objective - Dumfries and Galloway, north and west Grampians, the Borders, rural Stirling, upland Tayside - receives 141 million Ecus. Scotland also benefits from community programmes (Urban, Stride, Konver, Employment Initiative, Leader, Pesca, etc), from specific aids to small and medium sized companies and from loans from the European Investment Bank.