HC Deb 24 July 1957 vol 574 cc554-64

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Hughes-Young.]

10.5 p.m.

Mr. Walter Monslow (Barrow-in-Furness)

For some years the Furness area has been making representations for some diversity of industry to absorb a growing unemployment, At the moment, we have an abundance of female labour. A disturbing feature in the past year has been an increase in female unemployment from 3.3 per cent. in April, 1956, to 4.1 per cent. in April last. The total unemployment figure at the moment is 1,519 and for every seven women unemployed there is only one vacancy. I respectfully draw the attention of employers throughout the country who are looking for female labour to this available source.

The economy of the Furness area is definitely unbalanced. It has depended on heavy engineering—notably Vickers-Armstrongs Limited. It is a fact that the whole area has been dependent on heavy engineering, shipbuilding and ship repairing, and iron and steel. Owing to the type of industries in the area, there was, before the war, little scope for the employment of female labour, but during the war women were employed in shipbuilding and in engineering, and also ill the steel plant at Barrow.

Unfortunately, the situation has changed for the worse. As I have indicated, the figures of female unemployment are high, and now stand at about 652. The Parliamentary Secretary may say that the prospects of employment for men are satisfactory, but I do urge the Minister to realise that there is an urgent need for the introduction of industries suitable for the employment, mainly, of women, and indeed of men, who can no longer work in the heavy industries.

The sort of industries for which I ask would have the advantage of contributing to the need for diversifying the industrial structure of the area. The Barrow Development Committee has rendered yeoman service to the town in its endeavours to attract new industries. Those efforts have met with some success, but I must say that a greater measure of success would have resulted had that Committee been working within the ambit of development rights over the years.

During recent years, there have been firms that have been desirous of obtaining factory space in Barrow and were very satisfied with the type of labour available. Owing to the lack of development rights, they have gone elsewhere, for there can be no doubt that there are advantages for firms within a Development Area. The result is that we now have this large figure of female unemployment.

Development rights would, in my view, effect some measure of financial assistance for the erection of factories. We could accommodate those firms and absorb all our female labour. I want to appeal to the hon. Gentleman seriously to consider the deterioration of the employment position. Whilst he may not be able to induce his right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade to concede development rights, I would ask him to have immediate consultation with his right hon. Friend and to consider some means by which light industries might be attracted to the Furness area and developed in Barrow to obviate protracted unemployment.

The Minister will recognise the great handicap it is to an area like ours to be next door to a Development Area such as West Cumberland. That Development Area, by its priorities, draws upon materials and labour, and that makes it difficult for the Furness area to get the materials which may be needed by industries which come into it.

One is conscious of the further enlargements and improvements to be undertaken by Vickers-Armstrong Ltd. in Barrow, which is most welcome news. Indeed, the Parliamentary Secretary may think that we are fortunate in Barrow in having a firm of the calibre of VickersArmstrong—a most enterprising firm—amongst whose employees we have some of the finest craftsmen in the world. However, I should like to know what are the prospects of further improvements to provide facilities for big tankers of the future. Have the Government any plans for helping selected centres of the shipbuilding industry, including Barrow, to equip themselves to meet the current trend for mammoth ships? In my view, the extension of the docks would not be difficult. I am not unmindful of the capital expenditure involved. To bring the project to fruition would probably need the joint efforts of Vickers-Armstrong Ltd. and the British Transport Commission.

I hope the hon. Gentleman will be able to tell me what is the position with regard to a factory which has apparently closed. Have the Government any knowledge of what is happening to the Elkanah-Armitage textile factory? Work is held up. Is it due to the credit squeeze? If not, what is the cause? I urge the need for an examination of the problems which I have presented and I express the hope that the hon. Gentleman will consult with the President of the Board of Trade to see what can be done to arrest the fall in employment and encourage industrialists to try the Furness area where labour is available.

10.12 p.m.

Sir Ian Fraser (Morecambe and Lonsdale)

I congratulate the hon. Member for Barrow-in-Furness (Mr. Monslow)on his good fortune in winning a place in the Ballot and upon presenting the important case which he has just advanced. He and I are political neighbours and, although we belong to different parties, we co-operate in all matters which affect the well-being of the people who live in the Furness area and who are both his constituents and mine.

I am sure the hon. Gentleman will not mind if I make one point about the Furness area to which he referred. It includes a large part of the Lake District, and neither he nor I, nor any of us, I am sure, would want parts of the Lake District to become industrialised. I am sure that was not in his mind, and he will not mind me making it clear.

Mr. Monslow

Quite so.

Sir I. Fraser

I have an interest in the town of Barrow-in-Furness because, although the inhabitants are the voters of the hon. Member for Barrow-in-Furness, some of my voters living on the borderline go into Barrow to work, and I confirm the view which he has put forward that the industrial background of Barrow is unbalanced. There is too much heavy industry and not enough variety. I therefore echo and reinforce the plea the hon. Gentleman has made that the Board of Trade should do anything it can to help this important industrial town to get more variety in its methods of employment.

In the nearby town of Ulverston, which is in my constituency, a similar though perhaps less urgent problem exists. People there, too, could do with a little more light employment of the kind which would provide work for women. Through the efforts of a local development council there, under the leadership of Councillor Simpson and others, we have succeeded in getting Glaxo Laboratories to put up a most remarkable plant for the manufacture of antibiotics, and other similar developments have been made but a little more would not do us any harm.

In Grange-over-Sands, a small town nearby, some people think that a small amount of light industry would be advantageous. Others, on the other hand, feel that this seaside town should retain its character as a seaside town. I make these reservations lest the plea made by the hon. Member for Barrow-in-Furness for industrial development throughout the whole Furness area should be misunderstood.

So far as Barrow-in-Furness is concerned, and, to a lesser extent. Ulverston, I confirm all that he had said. I urge the Minister to do his best to satisfy our wishes and to see what help he can get for us from the President of the Board of Trade.

10.16 p.m.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour and National Service (Mr. Robert Carr)

I am glad that the hon. Member for Barrow-in-Furness (Mr. Monslow)and my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lonsdale (Sir I. Fraser)have initiated this debate this evening because there is no doubt that the problems of this area are difficult and, indeed, have been difficult for a long time. Before I deal with any of the points made or mention figures in detail, I should like, in order to avoid confusion, to explain that, in the figures I shall be using, I shall be referring to the combined figures for our two employment exchanges at Barrow-in-Furness and Dalton-in-Furness.

I apologise to my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lonsdale. I have not come armed with detailed figures about Grange and Ulverston. realise, of course, that these two other exchanges do come into the Furness area, and I know something about the position there, but, as they lie outside the constituency of the hon. Member for Barrow-in-Furness, and as I was given some indication of the sort of problems he proposed to raise, I am afraid that I did not come armed to deal as adequately with the problems of Ulverston and Grange as I should have wished.

Sir I. Fraser

That is well understood.

Mr. Carr

But I say to my hon. Friend that we will equally keep in mind the needs of Ulverston. I know that, although the numbers involved are smaller in total, when they are expressed on a percentage basis, the problem in Ulverston is seen to be similar to that in Barrow and in Dalton.

Ever since the war, unemployment in the Barrow area has been considerably higher than the national average rate. I say straight away, therefore, that we recognise that the problem is a real and a live one; it is certainly not one which we can yet regard as being satisfactorily solved. Against this background, may I briefly review the recent trends in unemployment in the area and, perhaps, leave the hon. Member for Barrow-in-Furness with somewhat better news than he indicated?

For the first five months of this year, the unemployment rate, it is true, had been higher than for the corresponding period of 1956 and it was, as the hon. Gentleman said, as high as 4.3 per cent. in April, as compared with 3.6 per cent. for the same month in the previous year. But in May, the figure began to fall, although it still remained somewhat above the figure for May, 1956. Now, however, we have the latest figure for June, and I am glad to be able to say that this shows that the fall which started in May has continued, so much so that the June figure of 3.0 per cent. is slightly lower than the figure twelve months before. It is, in fact, the lowest June figure for the last ten years, with the two exceptions of 1949 and 1953.

Therefore, the setback in the earlier part of the year has been more than made good and the recovery which has taken place is, we are convinced, definitely greater than can be accounted for by any normal seasonal factor. I am glad, therefore, to be able to say that the hon. Member can assure his constituents that the deterioration in the early part of the year no longer exists and the position is now marginally better than it was a year ago.

As the hon. Member pointed out, in considering the employment problems of the Furness area it is necessary to delve deeper than the total unemployment figures, even though they are higher than the national average. It is necessary to look separately at the figures for men and women. The most characteristic feature of the employment position in the area has, as the hon. Member said, for a long time been that the unemployment rate among men and boys has not been greatly in excess of the national average, having ranged in the past few years between 1 and 2 per cent., but the unemployment rate for women and girls has been much higher. Looking ahead, there seems to be no reason to fear that the position for men should continue to be anything but satisfactory. The hon. Member forecast that I might say that. It is right to say it; but, equally, I assure him that we shall not be complacent about it.

The area is heavily dependent upon marine engineering and shipbuilding and to a somewhat lesser extent on iron and steel and railways. All four of these are traditional male-employing industries. Marine engineering and shipbuilding, in fact, account for nearly half the male employment in Barrow itself. The area's main industry, however, is felt to be in a healthy condition, and not only for the present. There are solid signs that that will be the position for a comfortable period into the future. There are good order books and the industries are unable to obtain all the skilled labour they need.

A proportion of those employed are certainly engaged on defence work, but we have heard nothing of any imminent reduction in the labour force on that account. Orders were placed recently in Barrow for two large tankers, as I expect the hon. Member knows, and the first nuclear-powered submarine is also to be built there. These are signs of the shipyards at Barrow being used in a modern way to produce the ships of the future. In fact, all the indications are that the area's main industry on which male employment depends has a prosperous future before it.

The hon. Member will realise that I am not in a position to discuss the Government's policy in relation to tankers. I will convey what he has said tonight to my right hon. Friend the Minister of Transport and to any other of my right hon. Friends who are concerned, but it would be foolish of me to try to enter into that matter tonight, important though it is.

And so it is to the employment opportunities for women that I want to look—indeed, that we must look—to explain the fact that the overall unemployment rates in the area have reached levels so considerably above the national average. At all recent dates there have, as the hon. Member said, been more women than men unemployed, in spite of the fact that women form only 28 per cent. of the insured population compared with the national average of 35 per cent. This shows that there are probably considerable numbers of women and girls who have not yet been drawn into employment, as they would have been in many other parts of the country. I readily admit, therefore, that even the percentage unemployment among women and girls that exists may be even an underestimate of the need for more opportunities for women's employment.

The unemployment rate amongst women has been around 7 per cent. and over throughout the whole post-war period, and earlier this year, during the set-back, it rose to 10 per cent. I am, however, glad to say that the recent decrease in unemployment of which I have been able to tell the House has been rather more pronounced for women and girls than for men and boys. The result has been that the rate of female unemployment has fallen from 10.6 per cent. in April to 7.3 per cent. in June, the level having been bettered in only three of the last ten years. Nevertheless, it is still a high figure by any standards one likes to use, and it is obvious that the chief need to improve the employment position in the Barrow area is the provision of more employment opportunities for women and girls. I assure the hon. Member that we realise this. Indeed, this need has long been recognised by successive Governments, and I think that Governmental activity has been by no means negligible in its results in getting new industries to go to Barrow.

The new industries which have gone to the area—and when I speak of Barrow I am, of course, referring to the Barrow area—include clothing, hosiery, shoes, and components for the motor industry, and they are at the moment providing jobs for over 800 women and just over 100 men. As my hon. Friend has said, at Ulverston there are other developments which have produced even more additional employment in the Furness area.

Largely as a result of these new developments the number of women in the employment field has in the past five years increased by over 1,000. This represents an increase of women's employment in that period of about 14 per cent., which is rather more than double the rate of increase of women's employment throughout the country as a whole and does, I think, show that we have made some real progress in the Barrow area towards putting right the long-standing shortage of opportunities for women's and girls' employment. Nevertheless, while it is satisfactory to record this improvement it is still true that more opportunities are needed, and needed badly.

So let me now turn from the developments which have taken place to those, which, we believe, are about to occur. There is one new factory under construction. Although it is expected to employ more men than women it will make a useful contribution to the employment of women, too. The building of another factory likely to supply jobs for a substantial number of women is expected to start in the not too distant future, but I have no information of exactly when.

Then there is a third new project on the stocks, the one to which the hon. Member referred. It was expected that a start on building this new factory would have been made a month or two ago, but unfortunately there has been a postponement. We have made inquiries into this and we are assured that the postponement is due not to any general economic circumstances but purely to internal circumstances within the firm in question, and, although I cannot give any firm assur- ance, we are given to understand that this postponement is likely to be only a temporary one. It goes without saying that we very much hope that is the case.

Assuming that is so, I think it is right, as far as we can estimate, to say that as a result of these expected developments there seems a reasonable assurance that within the next few years there will be additional jobs for some 500 men and a rather larger number of women. If this conies about, and comparing these figures with the 309 men and 621 women who were unemployed at the last count, it would seem on the face of it that the projected developments should absorb the scale of unemployment which at present exists.

Nevertheless, although this is encouraging, it must not be a cause for any complacency, because, first of all, we ought to expect that the employed population in the area will increase during these years and that, therefore, to absorb the unemployment there at the moment may not be sufficient. It will increase for one reason because of the numbers of boys and girls who will be leaving school, the increase in the numbers of whom will presumably affect the Barrow area to roughly the same extent as it will other parts of the country.

Secondly, there is the fact, to which I have already referred, that women form a significantly smaller proportion of the working population in the Barrow area than in the country as a whole, and that there is, therefore, probably a substantial extra number of women and girls who would join the working population if the opportunities were made available. So we have to think in terms of a growing working population in the Barrow area.

Therefore, I should like to inform the hon. Member and his constituents that, although the Government cannot direct manufacturers to Barrow and district, they will continue to tell firms which come forward with new projects of the more plentiful supplies of labour and the other advantages which are to be found there. The hon. Member pressed for the Barrow district to be included in the nearby Development Area. I will, of course, put the point before my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade who, as he knows, is the Minister responsible for Development Area policy. But, I should be wrong if I gave the hon. Member any idea that such an inclusion is likely to happen.

As the hon. Member no doubt knows, the problems of the Barrow area were reviewed by the Labour Government in a White Paper on the Distribution of Industry published in 1948. The conclusion then reached was that The vulnerability of this area to cyclical unemployment cannot be taken as grounds for scheduling at the present time, but the situation is being kept under continuous review. Although I would not presume to take my right hon. Friend's decisions for him, I should have thought, in view of the present situation and of the trends, the present Government would be likely to have the same view as the Labour Government had in 1948 on that point. I promise the hon. Member that we will keep the position under review and that the Minister of Labour will keep the situation well before the President of the Board of Trade.

I should like to comment on two conditions which I believe are essential if this area is to be successful in attracting the further new industries which it would like to have. First, the success of any persuasive advice which the Government may give to prospective employers will depend to a large extent on the welcome and the facilities which are offered to them if they go to the area to make inquires. The area must go out of its way to sell itself to prospective employers. I am not for one moment suggesting that that is not done, but I know from past experience in industry as well as from my present experience, that when a new firm with a project in mind comes along, the sort of welcome it gets, the quickness with which it gets information and the sort, in quality and scale, of the basic facilities offered to it can be important factors in tipping the balance in favour of going to one place instead of another.

The second condition I want to mention is that not only should there be an adequate supply of labour in total for new developments, but also the labour available should have the right qualifications. In general, this means increasing the supply of skilled workers of all kinds. This, of course, is a problem not only for the Barrow area but for the whole country. Over and over again we hear the same story of an acute shortage of skilled workers, even in places where the total supply of labour is greater than the number of vacancies available.

I would repeat a plea which I made in a somewhat similar debate last night. We must greatly increase the number of skilled workers that the country trains, because the number of boys and girls leaving our schools and seeking employment is beginning to increase this year, and within no fewer than five years, that is in 1962, the number will be as much as 50 per cent. higher than it is now. Therefore, if we are to fulfil our duty to the rising number of boys and girls looking for jobs, and also to provide our industries with skilled people of which they are short at the moment, we must increase the skill and quality of the training available.

I know that Barrow has a particularly enthusiastic and active youth employment committee. I had the pleasure of meeting its members some months ago when they came to see me to make representations about their need for new premises to carry on the Youth Employment Service. I was very glad, having considered their representations, to be able to inform them recently that their project could be approved. I hope that this project will encourage the Committee to continue its good work, and in particular to take a strong initiative in trying to get the opportunities for apprenticeship and other training in their area still further increased. I believe that success in this direction will be as important to future prosperity in Barrow as in the rest of the country.

I assure the hon. Member that if I have not answered all the points that he has made with the replies that he would have liked to have received, all that he and my hon. Friend the Member for More-cambe and Lonsdale have said will be kept in mind and all these problems will be kept in front of my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade.

The Question having been proposed after Ten o'clock and the debate having continued for half an hour, Mr. SPEAKER adjourned the House without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.

Adjourned at twenty-five minutes to Eleven o'clock.