§ 9. Mr. Greyasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give further details of the 14,500 jobs which have been promised for the County of Durham during the next few years.
§ Mr. N. MacphersonAs the Answer is rather long and contains a number of figures, I will with permission circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Mr. GreyWhile thanking the hon. Gentleman for promising to give those figures, may I ask if he is aware that in Durham County as a whole there are nearly 20,000 unemployed and that that represents twice the national average, but it is something about which the Local Employment Act is not doing anything whatever? If, as a result of the uncertainty I mentioned in my earlier supplementary question, people are leaving Durham in search of work, and if this trend continues over the next fourteen years 27,500 will be leaving, will the hon. Gentleman put some teeth into the Act to make it work and bite without difficulty?
§ Mr. MacphersonI am very much aware of many of the considerations the hon. Member has mentioned, which, indeed, he mentioned when he came with a deputation from Durham.
Following is the information:The distribution of the 14,500 jobs which we estimate should accrue in the next few years in County Durham is as follows:
| North East Durham, comprising the Employment Exchange Areas of Birtley, Chester-le-Street, Washington Station, and Houghton-le-Spring | 1,125 |
| North West Durham, comprising the Employment Exchange Areas of Consett and Stanley | 830 |
| Durham Employment Exchange Area | 425 |
| South West Durham, comprising the Employment Exchange Areas of Bishop Auckland, Crook. Shildon, Spennymoor, Barnard Castle and Middleton-in-Teesdale | 1,635 |
| South East Durham, comprising the Employment Exchange Areas of Wingate, Haswell and Horden | 290 |
| South Tyne West, comprising the Employment Exchange Areas of Blaydon, Felling and Gateshead | 1,285 |
| South Tyne East, comprising the Employment Exchange Areas of East Boldon, Jarrow and Hebburn, and South Shields | 2,200 |
§ Of these jobs about 9,000 are in development districts. About 9,500 are for men and 5,000 for women.