§ 38. Mr. Willeyasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will make a statement on the advance factory in Sunderland which is at present unoccupied.
§ Mrs. Gwyneth DunwoodyThe Board of Trade is continuing its efforts to find a suitable occupant.
§ Mr. WilleyI greatly appreciate my hon. Friend's help in trying to get industry into this factory, but does she not realise that, again, in the circumstances, exceptional measures are necessary; that where the Government have provided a factory they cannot afford to leave it idle, and that we should consider, perhaps, spon- 416 sored production as well as advance building?
§ Mrs. DunwoodyI am sure that my right hon. Friend will accept that we are doing everything we possibly can to get someone in to the factory—[Interruption.]—and hon. Gentlemen opposite who so frequently resent the amount of money spent by the Board of Trade might like to bear in mind their thinking about their own policy.
§ Mr. R. W. ElliottWill the hon. Lady take very much to heart her right hon. Friend's appeal? Is she aware that at this time for every available job in Wear-side there are 68 unemployed men? Is she further aware that the Labour Party in the North-East claimed at the last election that it would clear unemployment in the region in 17 months?
§ Mrs. DunwoodyI am not complacent about any area which has these unemployment problems, but I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will accept that his own leader has made comments which lead us to believe that this would not be his policy if he were returned to power.