Scotland

HC Deb 04 February 1963 vol 671 cc19-21

23. Mr. Ross

asked the Minister of Labour if he will state the latest available figure for unemployed in Scotland; and how many of these are young people.

Mr. Hare

At 14th January, 128,025, including 10,440 boys and girls.

Mr. Ross

Is not the first figure serious and is not the second tragic? Will the right hon. Gentleman tell me how many vacancies there are for these 10,000 young people and how many of the 10,000 have been unemployed for more than two months?

Mr. Hare

I cannot give the hon. Gentleman an exact answer about the numbers of vacancies. What I can tell him is that the figure of 10,440, about which I share his concern, was swollen by 2,800 of about 20,000 Christmas term school leavers. I hope that, when they come out, the February figures will show that there has been considerable absorption of those. The hon. Gentleman should know, also, that of the 33,904 summer school leavers only 259, I am glad to say, are still without employment.

Mr. Ross

But does not the Minister realise that many of these will reappear very shortly as young people unemployed and that we are seeing the growth of blind alley jobs for school leavers? The right hon. Gentleman should know that very well. Will he look at the figures again and, if he has not got it, find out the number of these young people who have now been unemployed for more than two months?

Mr. Hare

If the bon. Gentleman will put down a Question, I will give him an answer. In any event, I shall write to him and give him the figure for which he has asked. I do not think that he should denigrate the efforts of the Youth Employment Service in finding employment for these young people leaving school.

24. Mr. Ross

asked the Minister of Labour by how many the latest figure for unemployed in Scotland exceeds the figure for January, 1962; and by how many the number of temporarily unemployed exceeds that at the same time last year.

Mr. Hare

The total at 14th January was higher by 42,727 and the numbers temporarily stopped by 10,068.

Mr. Ross

Since the figures show that, weather apart, the situation is not only serious but is worsening, what is the right hon. Gentleman doing, in collaboration with the others in the new Scottish Development Committee, to bring into effect specific measures and specific plans related to Scotland to deal with the situation? Is he aware that we are tired of predictions of progress and prophecies of prosperity which are never realised?

Mr. Hare

I hope to deal with this question later in the debate today. The hon. Gentleman knows that Scotland, during the past two to three years, has received about £42 million under the Local Employment Act to assist in new projects. These, as he knows, are estimated to provide about 32,000 jobs. If he does not like that figure, he must recognise, also, that about 51,000 new jobs have been provided in Scotland since the war.

Mr. Callaghan

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree with the estimate of the Scottish Council that the present effort in getting new jobs needs to be stepped up by three times if Scottish unemployment by 1970 is to be reduced to the national average? Has he any hope whatever of achieving this?

Mr. Hare

The hon. Gentleman and I will be debating this subject very shortly, and I intend to deal with the special problems in that debate.

Mr. Callaghan

Has the Minister no hope at all of achieving those figures? That is susceptible of answer by "Yes" or "No"?

Mr. Hare

I should prefer to deal with that in debate rather than try to answer catch questions at Question Time.