29. Mr. Hillasked the Secretary of State for Scotland why his invitation to local authorities in Scotland to embark on certain additional capital projects was limited to local authorities in the counties of Ayr, Bute, Dunbarton, Fife, Lanark and Renfrew, and to the cities of Glasgow and Dundee.
§ 30. Mrs. Cullenasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many applications he has received for borrowing consent; and what is the aggregate of the sums involved in respect of works to be undertaken under Circular 33/1962.
§ 31. Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what degree of unemployment comes within the term, relatively high unemployment, used in his Circular No. 33/1962 recently sent by the Scottish Development Department to certain local authorities, joint boards and committees and harbour authorities in Scotland; and how many and which of those bodies have applied for capital investment, in respect 1301 of what projects within the meaning of that Circular; and with what results in each case.
§ 50. Mr. Brewisasked the Secretary of State for Scotland why the county of Wigtown and the burgh of Stranraer have been omitted from the invitation contained in his Circular 33/1962 to embark on additional capital projects.
§ Mr. NobleThe object of the circular is to make use of temporary spare capacity in the building and construction industries by undertaking works that can be started before the end of March and completed within six months. This is essentially a short-term measure to help the areas with the highest unemployment among skilled craftsmen in these industries. The areas chosen fall within this category.
As I informed the hon. Member for Kilmarnock (Mr. Ross) on 6th February, it is too early to say how much work local authorities will undertake in response to the circular. I will ask them for a progress report at the end of March.
Mr. HillIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that in the Calders area of Midlothian we have more unemployment today than we had before the B.M.C. came to Bathgate? Is there any reason why Midlothian County could not have had the same opportunities as the other counties to share in this work? This situation exists despite all the plans about which the Government have told us. Last year the Board of Trade said that there were 6,000 to 8,000 jobs in the pipeline. None of those jobs materialised. We want the jobs now. We need jobs in Scotland. The B.M.C. has not provided them.
§ Mr. NobleThe point I made in my Answer was that when this list was decided the areas were picked for the number of skilled craftsmen in the building and contracting industries.
§ Mrs. CullenDoes not the Secretary of State think that he would have had a speedier and better response if he had offered loans at reduced rates for capital works?
§ Mr. NobleIn some cases there are loans available and in others there are not. It is difficult to say whether we would have got a greater demand, be- 1302 cause we do not yet know the full scale of the demand which we have got. I will make a progress report in March.
§ Mr. Hector HughesDoes not the Secretary of State realise that it is thoroughly wrong, unscientific and impractical to apply the doctrine of relativity to measure human happiness? Will he make a comprehensive statement on what he means by "relatively high unemployment"?
§ Mr. NobleThe figures for the hon. and learned Gentleman's constituency, or rather for Aberdeen, at the time when these figures were considered were 51 skilled building and construction craftsmen out of work with 42 unfilled vacancies.
§ Mr. RossSurely the Secretary of State realises in relation to the building trades that the figures at present are far worse than that? It is time now to widen the scope of this. Why does he not send out another circular to local authorities, to which he would get a far better response, saying that he will use his power to make grants under Section 7 of the Local Employment Act?