HC Deb 18 March 1975 vol 888 cc1446-7
18. Mr. Duffy

asked the Secretary of State for Employment when he expects to make an announcement on the location of the office of the Health and Safety Commission.

Mr. Harold Walker

The Health and Safety Commission has informed me that it proposes to put in hand a study of the question of its ultimate location. I am not yet able to say when the advice of the commission will be available.

Mr. Duffy

Is my hon. Friend aware that even after a period of national growth in service employment the Yorkshire and Humberside Region's percentage of workers in the service sector is more than seven points below the national average of 56? Does my hon. Friend realise that it is devoutly hoped in Sheffield and district that the choice for this office will ultimately fall upon that city and its surrounding countryside?

Mr. Walker

Since I travel with my hon. Friend to and from Doncaster every week I am sure that he will not allow me to overlook the powerful case which Sheffield has. I am sure that, equally, he will recognise the strong claims of other areas.

Mr. Woodall

Does my hon. Friend accept that the Sheffield travel-to-work area, in practical terms, includes many constituencies like my own and that in the Hemsworth constituency there is an almost total lack of service employment facilities? Does he further accept that in the South Yorkshire coalfield area there is a desperate need for this type of service employment?

Mr. Walker

I assure my hon. Friend that the needs of South Yorkshire in this respect are least likely to be overlooked by me. I shall certainly bear in mind what he has said and will draw his remarks to the attention of all those concerned.