§ 11. Mr. Willeyasked the President of the Board of Trade the number of persons, men and women, separately, employed in the North-Eastern Trading Company's factories on the latest available date.
§ Mr. H. StraussOn 27th February, 1954, the latest date for which official figures are available, 19,453 men and 1431 boys and 25,650 women and girls, making a total of 45,103, were employed in these factories.
§ Mr. WilleyWill the hon. and learned Gentleman appreciate that these figures show an encouraging increase, but will he also continue to encourage those using these Government factories to make fuller use of the factories in order to provide more employment, because the figures are still far short of what was anticipated?
§ Mr. StraussThe hon Member is quite right in thinking that these figures show an increase. It is an increase of over 1,000 since November, 1953, and is the highest yet recorded.
§ 12. Mr. Willeyasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will make a further statement on the two North-Eastern Trading Company's factories in Sunderland which are still vacant.
§ Mr. H. StraussNo, Sir. I have nothing to add to previous answers on the subject.
§ Mr. WilleyIn view of the fact that the factories in question have been vacant for six months, will the hon. and learned Gentleman cover the wider field and say whether he can attract entirely different industries to make use of these premises?
§ Mr. StraussOn a previous occasion, my right hon. Friend suggested to the hon. Gentleman that he might like to have a talk with us on this matter. I should like to say that that offer still holds good.
§ 13. Mr. Willeyasked the President of the Board of Trade the number of persons, men and women, separately, employed in the North-Eastern Trading Company's factories in Sunderland on the latest available date.
§ Mr. H. StraussOn 27th February, 1954, the latest date for which official figures are available, 1,631 men and boys and 2,642 women and girls, making a total of 4,273, were employed in these factories.
§ Mr. WilleyWould the hon. and learned Gentleman now agree that these figures are unfavourable, compared with the North-Eastern Development Area as a whole, and that the Sunderland total shows a fall in the numbers employed? Will he, therefore, redouble his efforts to deal with the particular problem affecting us in Sunderland?
§ Mr. StraussThe hon. Gentleman is only partly right. There was a decrease in the number of women and girls, but an increase in the number of men and boys. In reply to the second part of the supplementary question, I cannot redouble what is already as great as it can be.
§ Mr. WilleyWould the hon. and learned Gentleman agree that we are now employing in these factories in Sunderland fewer people than were employed there when the Conservative Government came to office, and that this is a reversal of the previous Government's policy, when the numbers there were increasing rapidly? In view of this fact, will the hon. and learned Gentleman treat this matter seriously?