§ 16. Mr. David Clarkasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the rising level of unemployment in the Huddersfield employment exchange area.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithThe main reason for the increase in unemployment in Huddersfield over the past year is redundancies and short-time working in woollen textiles. More recently, my Department has been told of reundancies affecting some 600 workers employed at a Huddersfield establishment making tractors. Our officers will continue to do all they can to assist those affected to find suitable jobs.
§ Mr. ClarkDoes the hon. Gentleman realise that that is an unsatisfactory answer, and that, since his Administration has been in power, unemployment in the district has doubled? Does he further realise that the firm in question has announced another 300 redundancies in the area? We want to know what he intends to do about it?
§ Mr. SmithAs I said, we shall do all we can to help those who are made redundant. Although unemployment in this area has gone up by 1.1 percentage points over the past year, fortunately it is still well below the national average. There has been recently a good deal of improvement in the short-time working in the wool industry, which is encouraging.