§ 19. Mr. Greyasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give a breakdown of the occupational groups represented by the 21,000 jobs which are in prospect for the North-East; and if he will give an estimate of the date by which each such industry will be brought to this area.
§ Mr. MaudlingI regret that this information is not available. The figure of 21,000 jobs is the sum of the estimates of future labour requirements over the next four years which the firms concerned have made; they have not broken it down into occupational groups. I can, however, tell the hon. Member that about 14,000 of these jobs are for males.
§ Mr. GreyIs the President of the Board of Trade aware that we are not complainng that he has not done anything but that what he has done is not filling the bill? May I ask him what steps he is taking to stop this drift of industry from the North to the South, because we are of opinion that industrial development certificates are far too easy to obtain for developments in the South? Secondly, may I ask him whether he followed my advice of last week to seek an interview with his right hon. Friend the Chancellor to ensure that if the payroll tax is to be imposed the North-East, owing to its peculiar circumstances, will be exempt from it?
§ Mr. MaudlingI am constantly in touch with my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I do not accept that we are soft in our operation of the I.D.C. policy. In fact, I think we are pretty stringent. We can only do the best we can to get such industry as it is feasible to move into development districts. In reply to the hon. Member's criticism that we are not doing enough, I am prepared to accept that criticism and will go on trying to do more.