§ Mr. Gwynfor Evansasked the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (1) what assumptions about the future trend of the activity rate in Wales he made in assessing in "The Task Ahead" whether or not manpower surplus would find employment;
(2) in view of the proposals in "The Task Ahead" for a better distribution of economic activity between the regions, when he estimates that the discrepancy between the activity rate in Wales and the regions of England will be overcome.
§ Mr. UrwinNo specific estimates have been made for changes in relative activity rates. Achieving a better regional distribution of employment growth will result in lower unemployment, lower net migration and higher 119W activity rates in Development Areas; but present forecasting techniques can provide only the broad direction of change of these three elements together. I would, however, expect considerable further progress to be made in the next few years in reducing the present considerable difference between Welsh and English activity rates for women. For men, prospects should improve as the dependence of the Welsh economy on industries with declining employment is reduced.