HC Deb 09 November 1967 vol 753 cc1235-7
24. Mr. Fletcher-Cooke

asked the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs when he expects to receive the report of the Hunt Committee on the operation of investment grants, Selective Employment Tax and premiums upon grey areas such as North-East Lancashire.

26. Mr. Henig

asked the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs whether the Hunt Committee on grey areas has yet begun its work; and when he expects it to report.

The Joint Under-Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (Mr. Alan Williams)

I understand that the Committee's work is well under way. It is too soon to say when a report is likely to be available, but the Committee is very conscious of the urgency of its task.

Mr. Fletcher-Cooke

Are not long-term decisions detrimental to the grey areas being taken now owing to the clumsy division between black and white areas? Will the Minister impress upon Mr. Hunt and his colleagues that they should report in a matter of weeks rather than months?

Mr. Williams

The Committee is already deeply conscious of this need and is doing everything it can to accelerate its rate of work. In the meantime, the Department of Economic Affairs is watching the situation to see whether it will be necessary for a Minister to take any interim action.

Mr. Henig

I welcome the urgency which my right hon. Friend has attached to the establishment of the Hunt Committee, but will the Minister assure us that action will be taken, if necessary, to deal with certain of the more urgent problems in the grey areas before the Hunt Committee makes its final report?

Mr. Williams

Yes, Sir. I am deeply aware of my hon. Friend's concern about his own area. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made clear that, if necessary, interim action would be taken.

Mr. Higgins

How does the Minister define a grey area?

Mr. Williams

This is what the Committee is sitting to decide.

Mr. Arthur Davidson

Will not my hon. Friend agree that what North-East Lancashire needs, and needs desperately and urgently, is short-term measures not only to encourage new industry to come into the area, but, equally, to discourage existing Lancashire firms from developing outside, as is happening at the moment?

Mr. Williams

This is somewhat beyond the scope of the present Question, but, of course, the real objective is to ensure that top priority is given to the redevelopment of the development areas, and against that background to do what we can for other localities.

Mr. Clegg

To what level must unemployment rise in Lancashire before any interim action is taken?

Mr. Williams

I can only repeat what I said, that we are constantly watching the situation in all areas to see whether action is required.

Mr. Barnett

Is it not a waste of time of the people concerned to have this Committee, when there is little it can tell us which existing committees, such as the North-West Economic Planning Council, do not tell us? What is going to be done while we are waiting, perhaps, two years for the report?

Mr. Williams

My hon. Friend is far too pessimistic about the time scale. I think that it will be substantially earlier than that. It was to examine the effect of new measures as much as old measures that this Committe was set up.

Sir A. V. Harvey

Will the hon. Gentleman take it that the people of Lancashire will be far from satisfied with what he has told us today? Does he know that, in the meantime, that part of the country is decaying industrially? When are we to hear from the Minister for the North what he is doing about it?

Mr. Williams

I cannot answer for my right hon. Friend. [HON. MEMBERS: "Why not?"] It is not my task to do so. I can only repeat that the Government's job is to ensure that the priorities are observed for the areas which have the greatest problem at the moment, and this is what our policy is geared to attain.

Mr. Robert Howarth

Does my hon. Friend realise that the contraction in the cotton textile industry is just as serious as that in the coal industry? Will he, therefore, recognise that urgent steps are needed to help grey areas such as the Central and East Lancashire belt?

Mr. Williams

I am aware of that. The point to be borne in mind is that we have to consider the general viability of the locality within which the decline is taking place, and there is no denying that the position of the development areas is substantially worse at the moment than that of the grey areas.