§ 8. Mr. Kaufmanasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many inquiries from industrialists with regard to the Manchester travel-to-work area have been received since the designation of the new North-Western intermediate area on 22nd March, 1972; and how many new jobs in total, and for men and women, respectively, are expected to result from these inquiries.
§ Mr. Anthony GrantThe number of inquiries about factories and about our new incentives have continued to increase since my right hon. Friend the Minister for Industrial Development answered the same Question on 17th July. I would hope that many of these inquiries will lead to benefit to Manchester.—[Vol. 841, c. 14–5.]
§ Mr. KaufmanIs the Minister aware that that is a totally unsatisfactory answer? He has not told us of a single new job announcement, a single new inquiry or the granting of a single new IDC since the reply of the Minister for Industrial Development. Is he aware that 1234 in Manchester redundancies are outnumbering new job creations by more than three to one, that thousands of redundancies are certain to come from closures at Irlam and Churchill's, apart from those already announced, that job creation is nowhere near keeping pace with redundancies and that, unless the Government do something, Manchester will be turned into a disaster area?
§ Mr. GrantThe hon. Gentleman has sung that song before, quite recently. I agree with the Chairman of the North-West Industrial Development Association who said in June that there were very encouraging signs that both consumers and producers were responding to the stimuli that the Government had provided, that business confidence was rising, that the number out of work was falling and that job vacancies were increasing. I believe that that more truly represents the position in Manchester than the gloomy prognostications of the hon. Gentleman.
§ Mr. Arthur DavidsonDespite the lyricism of the Under-Secretary, will he cast his eyes up to North-East Lancashire, particularly to the serious position in my constituency of the 40 apprentices who have recently lost their jobs and are unable to find opportunities to finish their apprenticeships? Will he see whether there is a way by which these apprentices can be financed so that they do not have to go into dead-end jobs? While he is at it, will he also reconsider his earlier answer to me about not granting full development area status to North-East Lancashire?
§ Mr. GrantI appreciate that North-East Lancashire has special problems in the context of the North-West as a whole, and we are keeping it carefully in mind. Nevertheless, North-East Lancashire, as well as other parts, will benefit from the policies we have announced in the Industry Bill.
§ Mr. KaufmanIn view of the unsatisfactory nature of that reply, I beg leave to give notice that I shall raise this matter on the Motion for the Summer Adjournment.