§ 17. Mr. Bessellasked the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs if, in view 598 of the high unemployment in Cornwall, he will reallocate the funds at his disposal for development areas so that the South-West region may receive an allocation during the coming 12 months.
§ Mr. ShoreIn regard to the limited sum available for winter works, no, Sir. But the major continuing forms of assistance to development areas are available on an equal footing to the development area of the South-West region.
§ Mr. BessellDoes the right hon. Gentleman realise that his decision not to make an allocation this winter to the South-West area has been received with dismay and even disgust by people in the South-West who relied upon the Government's promises at the last election?
§ Mr. ShoreI am aware of the feeling in the South-West. I can only point to the relatively small sum which was available this year, £10 million, which in itself reflects the problem of containing public expenditure. In making the difficult decision to allocate the aid that was available to the three development regions with special development areas within them, we had to take account of many factors, including the actual percentage and number of unemployed. In the South-West Region there are, unhappily, about 6,000 unemployed, but this is out of a total of nearly 200,000 unemployed in the development areas as a whole.
§ Dr. John DunwoodyWill not my right hon. Friend agree that, in percentage terms, unemployment is now higher in the South-West development area than in any other development area? Will he look again at the illogical decision to leave out the South-West this year, when, 12 months ago, it obtained a bigger share per head of working population than did any other development area in the United Kingdom?
§ Mr. ShoreIf one does take it in percentage terms, one has to take account of the character of unemployment in the South-West development area, where the rate of unemployment in the five summer months is well below that of the average for development areas as a whole, although in the winter months it is, as my hon. Friend says, higher.
§ Mr. NottIt is no comfort to one man who is unemployed that there may be 599 10 men unemployed in another development area. The right hon. Gentleman was a candidate on one occasion in my constituency. Is he not aware that, over the past three years, winter unemployment in the constituency has averaged up to 7 per cent. and 15 per cent. in the two employment districts in St. Ives division? Is he satisfied with a situation of that kind?
§ Mr. ShoreI am aware of the problem, and I am not satisfied with any level of unemployment remotely like the figures which the hon. Gentleman has put to me. But it is a mistake simply to consider development area aid in terms of the winter programme. The hon. Gentleman will recall that we were able to announce the bringing forward of certain Post Office expenditures this winter, and I am glad to see that about 20 per cent. of the total went to the South-West development area.