HC Deb 20 December 1962 vol 669 cc1430-2
31 and 32. Dame Irene Ward

asked the President of the Board of Trade (1) if he will apply the provisions of the Local Employment Act to the whole of the northern region in order that prospective industrialists may be free to choose a site in any part of the region which is most suitable for their needs;

(2) if he will extend the appropriate provisions of the Local Employment Act to all areas of Northumberland, Durham and Cumberland where the decline in shipbuilding, ship-repairing, coal mining and heavy engineering threatens the employment of the community.

Mr. Erroll

The provisions of the Local Employment Act already apply to all those areas in the Northern region in which high and persistent unemployment exists or is threatened, due to the decline in shipbuilding, ship-repairing, coal mining and heavy engineering or for other reasons. I have no power to extend the Act to other areas, but I am always prepared to assist firms outside the development districts if they will provide work for people living in the development districts.

Dame Irene Ward

Is my right hon. Friend aware that from that Answer it is quite obvious that he has not yet had the memorandum and all the representations from all interests in these areas which have been made to the Prime Minister? Before my right hon. Friend commits himself to that kind of a statement, would not it be better to remember that even the Prime Minister had time to receive his northern Conservative colleagues, who emphasised this matter, and will he please consider the point of view that has been expressed? As we are considering National Productivity Year, it would be a good thing if the communications between the Prime Minister and my right hon. Friend were speeded up. We might then have a better reply than we have had this afternoon.

Mr. Erroll

I have received the memorandum, and I am looking forward to studying it closely. I should like to point out to my hon. Friend that the important thing is to get as many jobs as possible close to the locality where the unemployment actually exists. We are not helping the unemployed by building factories many miles away from where they are unemployed.

Mr. Jay

Will the right hon. Gentleman note that the adoption of his hon. Friend's excellent suggestion in Question No. 31 would mean returning to the system which prevailed under the Labour Government when this policy really worked, and there is a strong prima facie argument in favour of it?

Mr. Erroll

It was because the policy was not working particularly well that we introduced the Local Employment Act, 1960.

Dame Irene Ward

May I ask my right hon. Friend whether he can answer this question? Is he aware that there was a firm of great repute which wished to go to the north-east coast, but which required ample supplies of water? Ample supplies of water are not necessarily available on the north-east coast in areas of high unemployment, but if the firm had gone to that area it would have provided overall employment, which is very important when one is faced with a decline in coal mining and shipbuilding, and in that context one cannot argue as my right hon. Friend does about these matters.

Mr. Erroll

Without going into the details of this application, I assure my hon. Friend that to the extent to which this firm would have provided employment for these very development districts it would have been proportionately entitled to assistance under the Act.

Mr. Shinwell

Can the right hon. Gentleman indicate the areas of low unemployment in the north-east region which justify their exclusion from the Local Employment Act? When the hon. Lady does occasionally make a sensible suggestion. is not there every reason why it should be adopted by the Government?

Mr. Erroll

As I said to my hon. Friend, I am looking forward to studying the memorandum very carefully. As regards the areas in the North-East to which the right hon. Gentleman referred, I say that broadly they are those which are not scheduled as development districts.

Mr. Jay

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that unemployment in the northeast region in June, 1961, was 1.8 and now, after three years of this Act, it is nearly 4 per cent?

Mr. Erroll

Yes, I read my figures.