HC Deb 16 May 1966 vol 728 cc900-1
19. Mr. Onslow

asked the Minister of Labour what estimate he has formed of the loss of skilled labour from the aviation industry since October, 1964.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

Provisional estimates show that the number of employees in the aircraft industry fell by 13,000 between October 1964 and March 1966. I regret that figures are not available to show how many of these were skilled men.

Mr. Onslow

Will the Minister tell the House what progress is being made with the investigation that the Government are supposed to be undertaking on the reemployment of these men in other work? When will the results of their investigations be published? Will she give an undertaking that men who do not work for sub-contractors such as Comprehensive Designing Incorporated will be excluded, since their skills are now being bought by the American aircraft industry?

Mrs. Williams

On the first part of the hon. Member's supplementary question, we have information about approximately 3,866 workers discharged as redundant on the cancellation of Government contracts. Of these 732 went to other aircraft work, 1,694 went to other industries in the vehicle engineering group and 1,140 went to a variety of other industries. In almost all cases they were employed on skilled work if they were themselves skilled men. In answer to the second part of the question, perhaps the hon. Member will put down a Question on the Order Paper.

Mr. Marten

How many of these people are now employed by the Americans?

Mrs. Williams

I do not have that information at the moment. If the hon. Member will put down a Question I will attempt to answer it.