HC Deb 05 April 1938 vol 334 cc169-70
15. Mr. Parkinson

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many works in the coal, steel, engineering, and cotton industries in Lancashire have been closed down since 1931, giving the number of people thrown out of employment, also the number of new works in the same industries which have been completed during the same period, and the number of people employed on the new works?

The President of the Board of Trade (Mr. Oliver Stanley)

As the answer is long and contains a number of figures I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Following is the answer:

Between 1st January, 1931, and 31st December, 1937, 65 coal pits in Lancashire employing 12,358 wage-earners were closed and not reopened. In the same period 14 pits employing 952 wage-earners were opened. These particulars relate to pits employing 10 or more wage-earners. As regards the remainder of the information desired, the only particulars available are those collected since 1932 in connection with the annual Surveys of Industrial Development, which relate solely to factories where 25 or more people are or have been employed.

The following table shows the number of such factories engaged in the industries specified which were reported as opened in Lancashire during the period 1932 to 1937, the employment provided therein, and the number of factories reported as closed during the same period. The figures of openings and closures take no account of cases in which factories were closed down on transfer of the work to newly opened factories in other parts of Lancashire. In compiling the figures of employment provided, account has been taken, so far as practicable, of the employment figures reported as at 31st December of the year following that in which each factory was established. Particulars of employment are not reported in respect of any subsequent years. It is not practicable to ascertain with any degree of precision employment figures for factories closed which are comparable with the employment figures for new factories. In many cases the closing down of a factory is the final stage of a process extending over several months or years, and any employment figure relating to the period immediately before closing might be misleading.

— Factories opened, Employment provided. Factories closed.
Iron and steel 18 1,230 8
Engineering 27 4,165 25
Cotton (spinning and weaving) 132 13,946 346