§ 37. Dame Irene Wardasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the letter recently addressed to the President of the Chamber of Shipping by the Minister for Industry explaining why his Department is unable to make requested concessions in the Investment and Building Grants Bill recently published.
§ Mr. RidleyI am arranging for the letter, which explained the circumstances in which investment grants will be payable on expenditure incurred after 26th October, 1970, on the provision of new ships, to be published in the journal "Trade and Industry".
§ Dame Irene WardI am very grateful to my hon. Friend for doing that. However, since we are extremely short of employment in the North of England, if we cannot have the major employment which we require we would all be glad if we could have some of the bits. We are not getting the bit for our shipping in this instance, which causes us great regret. Will my hon. Friend please remember that we want a lot done in the North, and will he try to deal with the problems which are arising?
§ Mr. RidleyI understand that the order books of the shipyards in the north of England are very full and very long. I do not believe the shipyards would be able to take on more work at present. We always have the interests of the north of England at heart, as with all the other regions of the country, and we 1178 always listen very carefully to what my hon. Friend says.