HC Deb 18 November 1969 vol 791 cc1104-5
25. Dame Irene Ward

asked the Secretary of State for Local Government and Regional Planning if he will state the unemployment figures at the nearest convenient date for the northern area, giving separately figures for the main centres of population, place by place; and what fresh action he is taking to induce new industries to establish themselves there.

The Minister of State (Mr. T. W. Urwin)

I will circulate the figures in the OFFICIAL REPORT. The Government's regional policy continues to give massive preference to industrial expansion in the development areas.

Dame Irene Ward

But is the Minister aware that it would be more helpful and more satisfactory, in view of what is going on in the development areas, if we could know the unemployment figures in specially selected large areas within a region—such as North Shields in my division, South Shields on the other side of the Tyne, Sunderland, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and so on? Just quoting an overall figure does not emphasise the situation in many of these areas. We should like to have them picked out so that we may know what is going on.

Mr. Urwin

As I have indicated, the figures will be published in the OFFICIAL REPORT, but they are printed from time to time in the Department of Employment and Productivity Gazette. However, I hope that the hon. Lady's preoccupation with unemployment figures does not make her oblivious to the fact that there is a tremendous amount of development taking place in the Northern Region. There are 42,300 jobs in prospect over the next four years, of which 29,200 will be for men. In the Tyneside area, with which the hon. Lady is primarily concerned, the corresponding figures are 7,490 and 4,280.

Mr. Rhodes

As the hon. Lady the Member for Tynemouth (Dame Irene Ward) has mentioned Newcastle-upon-Tyne, would my hon. Friend accept my thanks and congratulations on behalf of my constituents, whose latest figures I have seen, for the fact that the shipbuilding industry on the Tyne and the production of heavy electrical engineering plant is reaching record heights partly as a result of the direct intervention of the Government?

Numbers of Persons on Registers at 13th October, 1969
Men 18 and over Women 18 and over Boys and Girls under 18 Total Temporarily Stopped (Included in Total) Percentage Rate of Unemployment
Bishop Auckland … 2,608 191 202 3,001 3 6.7
Carlisle … 823 182 48 1,053 — 2.5
Chester le Street … 1,943 217 179 2,339 2 6.3
Consett … 1,591 188 99 1,878 3 6.0
Darlington … 1,189 254 50 1,493 6 2.8
Durham … 1,214 149 70 1,433 47 5.2
Hartlepool … 1,648 410 217 2,275 36 5.9
Peterlee … 1,205 132 145 1,482 — 6.1
Sunderland … 5,668 499 559 6,726 13 5.8
Teesside … 5,299 1,463 669 7,431 7 3.8
Tyneside … 16,262 2,311 1,482 20,055 71 5.1
Workington … 1,113 363 106 1,582 69 5.7
Northern Region … 49,628 7,736 4,463 61,727 475 4.7