§ 6. Mr. Sydney Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is his estimate of the proportion of those currently registered as unemployed in the Birmingham travel-to-work area who are immigrants ; and how this compares with the proportion of immigrants in the total working population in the same area.
§ Mr. ScottOn 12th November 1973, 10 per cent. of the registered unemployed in the Birmingham travel-to-work area were coloured immigrants. I regret that up-to-date information about the proportion of immigrants in the working population in local areas is not available.
§ Mr. ChapmanMay I congratulate my hon. Friend on his new appointment? I welcome the fact that these figures do not seem disproportionate to the total immigrant working population, but will he look carefully at the matter and watch the situation? I am sure he will agree, as did his predecessor, that it is of vital importance to good relations in a city such as Birmingham.
§ Mr. ScottThe national picture over the last 12 months up to last November was that, in general, coloured unemployment as a percentage of total unemployment was falling but I share my hon. Friend's concern to see that real equality of opportunity is achieved.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerMay I, too, join in congratulating the hon. Gentleman on his first appearance at the Dispatch Box? I hope he will accept it in the right spirit if I say that I do not think he will be occupying that position for very long.
I think I have today heard the phrase "coloured immigrant" used for the first time at the Dispatch Box by a Minister from the hon. Gentleman's Department. Will he say by what criteria his Department determines whether an immigrant is coloured or otherwise?
§ Mr. ScottThis is an assessment made by the Department of the circumstances at each of the local offices.