HC Deb 08 December 1966 vol 737 cc1543-4
5. Mr. Gwynfor Evans

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many inquiries were received from industrialists for factory space in Wales in the years 1955 to 1965; how many factories were established as a result; how many men and women they employ; and what are the figures for 1964–65 and 1965–66.

Mr. Jay

No record is available of inquiries from 1955 to 1965. In that period at least 119 firms not previously operating in Wales are known to have established there and, at the last available date, employed some 20,400 people, of whom about three-fifths were men.

In each of the years, ending October, 1965, and October, 1966, 19 firms were established in Wales and they so far employ 4,500, over half men.

Mr. Evans

I thank the President of the Board of Trade for his reply, but does he wonder that, with a little more than 7,000 vacancies and nearly 40,000 unemployed people in Wales, despite the heavy loss by migration, the people of Wales increasingly regard government from London as a failure, whichever party is in power?

Mr. Jay

I think the hon. Gentleman makes a mistake, though I am sure that the people of Wales do not, in forgetting that most of the expansions in employment are the result of extensions of existing firms and not of the arrival of new firms in the area.

Forward to