Scotland (Hansard, 17 May 1962)

§ 4. Mr. W. Hamilton
asked the President of the Board of Trade what further measures and policies he has in mind, other than those contained in the Local Employment Act, to ensure a flow into 1504 Scotland of sufficient industry and new jobs to materially reduce the amount of unemployment and to counteract the accelerated loss of jobs which is likely within the next few years.

§ 18. Mr. Lawson
asked the President of the Board of Trade what further measures he has in mind, other than those contained in the Local Employment Act, to ensure a flow into Lanarkshire of sufficient new industry to reduce substantially the amount of unemployment and to counteract the accelerated loss of jobs threatened over the next few years.

§ 19. Mr. McInnes
asked the President of the Board of Trade what further measures he has in mind, other than those contained in the Local Employment Act, to ensure the flow into Glasgow of sufficient new industry to reduce substantially the amount of unemployment and to counteract the accelerated loss of jobs threatened over the next few years.

§ Mr. N. Macpherson
The measures most likely in the long run to bring about a high and stable level of employment in Scotland are those which the Government are taking to strengthen the economy generally. These measures are reinforced by the assistance which we have already provided and shall continue to provide under the Local Employment Act for development districts in Scotland, including those in Glasgow and Lanarkshire.

§ Mr. Hamilton
Is the hon. Gentleman aware that he and his colleagues have been saying that for the last ten years and that the position in Scotland has got steadily worse relative to the position south of the Border? Will he speed up the implementation of at any rate, the recommendations of the Toothill Committee with reference to the Local Employment Act? Whatever the hon. Gentleman may claim that the Local Employment Act has done, is it not the case that in Scotland we have lost almost as many jobs as that Act has created?

§ Mr. Macpherson
The Local Employment Act is designed to attempt to provide new jobs in areas of high unemployment. It cannot stop factories closing down for any reason. I simply do not accept for a moment that the 1505 situation in Scotland has got worse in relation to the country as a whole.

§ Mr. Lawson
Is the hon. Gentleman aware that in Scotland we have 52,000 fewer men in employment than six years ago? Does that not show that the position has got worse? While we welcome everything that the hon. Gentleman can do, is he aware that we hope for very much more to be done under the Local Employment Act than has so far been done? Will not the Government themselves establish industry in areas of high unemployment? Will not the Government themselves set up factories there? [Interruption.] I wish the noble Lord the Member for Dorset, South (Viscount Hinchingbrooke) would keep his tongue still. Will the hon. Gentleman ensure that something is done to establish factories in areas where there is very high unemployment?

§ Mr. Macpherson
It is not part of the Government's policy to go into business in competition with private enterprise. With regard to the general and wider question, we are considering the recommendations of the Toothill Report and shall come to a conclusion as soon as possible.

§ Mr. McInnes
Does the hon. Gentleman realise that we regard his reply as most unsatisfactory? He indicated a moment ago—

§ Viscount Hinchingbrooke
Ask a question.

§ Mr. W. Hamilton
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Can you not restrain the noble Lord the Member for Dorset, South (Viscount Hinchingbrooke), who sits there muttering like a half-wit?

§ Mr. Speaker
I am not sure that mutual discourtesies will assist anyhow, or that the noble Lord the Member for Dorset, South (Viscount Hinchingbrooke) is the only hon. Member who occasionally mutters during Questions. I would ask hon. Gentlemen not to make speeches of supplementary questions. It is really a very anti-social practice because we cannot get on with other people's Questions.

§ Mr. McInnes
Is the hon. Gentleman aware that there is more unemployment in Glasgow than in Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Swansea and two other 1506 English towns? Will he indicate the more definite action that the Board of Trade is prepared to take to relieve the very serious problem in and around Glasgow?

§ Mr. Macpherson
I did not intend to make the slightest suggestion that we were anything like satisfied with the position, but it is reasonable to point out that the additional new jobs arising from the grant of industrial development certificates last year in proportion to the total insured population were three times as great in Scotland as in London and southern and south-eastern England.

Mr. Gresham Cooke
Will my hon. Friend confirm that as a result of the Local Employment Act a number of English manufacturing companies are now starting branches or setting up works in Scotland which will bring a great deal of employment to those areas, and is it not about time that some of our Scottish friends showed a little more enterprise?

§ Mr. Macpherson
I am certainly all in favour of the Scots taking a greater part in creating new industry, but the fact is that we can still do with a good deal more English industries going to Scotland.

§ 22. Mr. Hoy
asked the President of the Board of Trade what new industries are planned for Scotland; what employment they are estimated to produce; and when they are likely to be in operation.

§ 20. Mr. J. Robertson
asked the President of the Board of Trade what new industries are planned for Renfrewshire; what employment they are estimated to produce; and when they are likely to be in operation.

§ 21. Mrs. Cullen
asked the President of the Board of Trade what new industries are planned for Glasgow; what employment they are estimated to produce; and when they are likely to be in operation.

§ 23. Miss Herbison
asked the President of the Board of Trade what new industries are planned for Lanarkshire; what employment they are estimated to produce; and when they are likely to be in operation.

§ Mr. N. Macpherson
There are now over 37,000 jobs in prospect from over 200 projects in Scotland covering a wide range of industries. Of these nearly 9,000 will arise in Renfrewshire, 4,000 in Glasgow and 7,700 in Lanarkshire. Some of these projects have already begun to recruit workers, some are under construction, some have received industrial development certificates but work on them has not yet started. All these jobs are expected to arise within the next four to five years, and about 30,000 within the next three.

§ Mr. Hoy
Is the hon. Gentleman aware that even Toothill estimates that during the next four to five years 62,500 new jobs will be required to meet the needs of Scotland? A considerable number of jobs, amounting to many thousands, have been lost in the last few weeks? Does not he appreciate that more drive is needed to bring to Scotland jobs even to replace those which are being lost at present?

§ Mr. Macpherson
The question is what industries are on the move and what industries want to find locations. We see to it that all those industries which are on the move are encouraged to come to the development districts, particularly those in Scotland.

§ Miss Herbison
The Minister has said that about 7,000 of the jobs he has mentioned will come to Lanarkshire. Does not he know that at this moment in Lanarkshire alone we have over 10,000 unemployed and that, if we have to wait for four or five years for those 7,000 jobs, many other thousands will be unemployed? Is he aware that the coal mining industry has almost come to a standstill in many areas of Lanarkshire, and now, week after week, fewer and fewer jobs are to be found in that industry? Does he realise that the people of Scotland and of Lanarkshire in particular are very bitter at the incompetence of the Government?

§ Mr. Macpherson
What the hon. Lady fails to give due weight to is the fact that one often hears in advance about jobs which are going to decline, but in the intervening period, of course, we are hopeful of getting further industries established at roughly the same rate as they have been coming during the past year. We are doing our best to secure 1508 that so that we shall be meeting the needs of those who will be made redundant.

§ Miss Herbison
Does not the hon. Gentleman realise that it is precisely because the Government have not done what he suggests they are doing that, when colliery after colliery closes in Lanarkshire, they are just hopeless at doing anything about it? If the Government are not willing to take much more active and decisive measures, Lanarkshire will remain a place with very heavy unemployment.

§ Mr. Macpherson
I do not at all accept what the hon. Lady says. The number of wholly unemployed in Lanarkshire at the last count was 8,794. There are 7,700 jobs in prospect, and of those 5,000 arise from industries to which assistance has been offered under the Local Employment Act at a cost of over £2½ million.