HC Deb 04 July 1979 vol 969 cc1353-6
7. Mr. Allan Stewart

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when he plans next to meet the Scottish CBI and the STUC.

Mr. Younger

I have already had meetings with both these bodies and shall be meeting them again later this summer.

Mr. Stewart

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that information. In his future discussions with both sides of Scottish industry, will my right hon. Friend emphasise that some recent news from Clydeside, notably from John Brown Engineering and Clydework Engineering, shows how industrial success can be achieved in Scotland if the key problem of improving productivity is tackled successfully by joint efforts on the part of management and employees?

Mr. Younger

Yes, I appreciate what my hon. Friend says, and I think it important to bear in mind that, even in the present situation which we have taken over in government, there are still good things as well as bad happening even on Clydeside, and we welcome that very much. As regards higher productivity, the strategy of the Budget is intended to encourage people to have an incentive to attain just that, and I am sure that it is most valuable for the future expansion of business in Scotland.

Mr. David Steel

When the Secretary of State talks with the Scottish CBI and STUC, will he convey from those bodies to his colleagues in the Department of Industry the important fact that development area status in Scotland has been accorded not just on the criterion of levels of unemployment but also on the criterion of levels of depopulation, and that nothing should be done to damage that criterion?

Mr. Younger

I entirely agree that unemployment levels are not the only factor in this context, and all these other matters must be taken into account. They are being taken into account in our review of regional policy.

Mr. Norman Hogg

When the Secretary of State next meets the Scottish Trades Union Congress, will he listen carefully to the alternative economic strategy being offered by the general council of the STUC and, in particular, to the views of its local government committee, which is expressing great concern about the savage attacks being made on the public sector by his Government?

Mr. Younger

I shall always listen with the greatest interest and care to all that is said to me by the STUC. I can only share the concern which it must feel about the effects on local government of the reductions in public expenditure which we are forced to make. No one can deny that they are extremely difficult to deal with, and the reason for them is that there is simply not enough money left after the depredations of the last Labour Government to pay for the services which we would like to have.

Mr. John Mackay

When my right hon. Friend meets representatives of the STUC, will he urge on them the need to solve the inter-union dispute which is keeping the steel complex at Hunterston closed? Does my right hon. Friend agree that such continued closure does nothing for Scotland's image or for our prosperity?

Mr. Younger

I agree with my hon. Friend. I was present at the opening of the Hunterston complex, and it was extremely sad that an inter-union dispute should have made it impossible to work it on that day. I shall do anything I can to encourage those concerned to come together, but it is primarily a matter for the British Steel Corporation and its employees.

Mr. Millan

How does the Secretary of State propose to justify to the CBI and the STUC when he next meets them the Government's decision to discontinue the scheme of assistance for the offshore industry, which has brought many thousands of jobs to Scotland and whose discontinuance is bound to put many of these jobs at risk?

Mr. Younger

I appreciate the point that the right hon. Gentleman makes. My colleagues in the Department of Energy are closely involved in this matter. As regards discontinuance of the scheme, as the right hon. Gentleman will be only too well aware there is an extreme shortage of money to deal with many problems throughout the country. If he had thought about this a year or two ago, we might not have been in that position now.