§ 40. Mr. Ginsburgasked the Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development if he will make arrangements for improved machinery for co-ordinating the work of Government Departments in the West Yorkshire industrial conurbation with regard to development of the region as a whole; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HeathI am satisfied that present arrangements provide satisfactorily for the co-ordination of Departments' work in the area.
§ Mr. GinsburgIs not the right hon. Gentleman aware that he and his colleagues have been consistently playing down this problem? Is it not a fact that Yorkshire has an ageing industrial structure? Is he also aware that if he came to my constituency he would discover that no effective I.D.C.s have been granted to new industrial undertakings in, for example, the heavy woollen district since the war?
§ Mr. HeathI am aware of what the hon. Gentleman says but the machinery of co-ordination is working satisfactorily. The controllers meet regularly and I think that it is a question of machinery which the hon. Gentleman is raising. The rest of his points are covered by the study I have discussed.
§ Mr. A. RobertsIs the Secretary of State aware that his Department is turning away growth industries from the West Riding?
§ Mr. HeathWe are endeavouring to persuade industry to go into the develop- 1584 ment districts, which must have first priority. This certainly applies to those parts of the West Riding which do not have heavy unemployment like the development districts.