HC Deb 27 March 1979 vol 965 cc250-3
13. Mr. Hal Miller

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many persons have become unemployed in the West Midlands since February 1974 as compared with other regions.

Mr. Golding

Between February 1974 and March 1979 the number of people registered as unemployed in the West Midlands region, seasonally adjusted and excluding school leavers increased by 74,600, compared with an increase of 666,700 in the other regions.

Mr. Miller

Is the hon. Gentleman satisfied with that state of affairs in the West Midlands? Why is he excluding school leavers? Will he be able to redeem his right hon. Friend's promise to provide jobs for all school leavers by May?

Mr. Golding

I am pleased to say that Birmingham and Coventry, two of the cities most hit by school-leaver unemployment, have discovered this week that it is almost certain that the Government commitment will be met. I am sure that my hon. Friends will be delighted about that. Although they will be far from satisfied, I am sure that they will be delighted that the level of unemployment has fallen in the West Midlands in the past year and that the number of vacancies has increased substantially.

Mr. Park

Without wishing to minimise the problem, may I ask whether my hon. Friend agrees that had it not been for Government assistance to British Leyland, Chrysler, Alfred Herbert, Meriden and other industrial schemes, the figures would have been considerably higher?

Mr. Golding

Had it not been for the assistance given by the Government to the West Midlands there would have been an industrial desert in many of our cities. Not only the assistance to Chrysler, British Leyland and Alfred Herbert, but also the temporary employment subsidy, the youth opportunities programme and now the short-time working compensation scheme will be helpful to the West Midlands.

Mr. Hugh Fraser

Does the Minister agree that there has been far too much steering of industry away from the West Midlands by the Government? I refer to firms such as IDC which were affected in Stafford, which is in my constituency. There has been a general attitude in the West Midlands of not helping sufficiently except for experiments such as at Meriden and British Leyland, which are not proving successful.

Mr. Golding

I wish that the right hon. Gentleman would reconsider his opposition to the creation of a pit in his constituency, which would create jobs, and note that 43,000 jobs were created as a result of industrial development certificates in the West Midlands in recent years since Labour came to power.

15. Mr. Rooker

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what are the latest unemployment figures in Birmingham and the West Midlands.

Mr. Golding

At 8 March, the provisional numbers of people registered as unemployed in the Birmingham travel-to-work area and in the West Midlands region were 41,441 and 122,882 respectively.

Mr. Rooker

Will my hon. Friend say how greater those figures would have been if the industrial assistance presently provided by the Government by way of subsidy schemes were removed—the removal of which assistance is Opposition policy? Will he give an estimate of what the further job loss will be if all the large companies such as IMI, Dunlop and GEC have to pay all their deferred tax, which is industrial assistance and which concession will be removed by the Tory Opposition if they form a Government? What will be the unemployment figures in the West Midlands if those courses of action are followed?

Mr. Golding

The figures in Birmingham alone would be astronomic. Through Department of Employment measures 19,000 people have been helped. In the West Midlands the figure is 95,000. The consequences not only for British Leyland, Chrysler and Alfred Herbert but for all the components firms throughout the West Midlands would be dramatic and catastrophic were it not for the way in which the Government intervened to save jobs.

Mr. Stokes

Does the Minister agree that the unemployment figures are disgraceful for what is the workshop of England? Why do the Government still send work away from the Midlands, which has the best work force in England, to other regions where the labour record is not so good?

Mr. Golding

As a native of Birmingham I appreciate the problems faced by the West Midlands. The Government created the inner city partnership in Birmingham, which has tackled the problem for the first time. The Government gave massive assistance to the engineering industry, which helped it to recover from the decline that occurred under the previous Administration.

Mr. Litterick

Will the Minister confirm that more than 100 firms in the West Midlands region have received direct Government aid since 1974? Will he give an undertaking that he will arrange to have published in the Official Report a detailed account of that financial assistance, together with the number of jobs being protected and preserved in each case, so that the education of the Opposition may be improved and so that the people will know what is at stake in the next election?

Mr. Golding

The statistics of trade legislation prevents us from naming the individual firms. The workers in factories whose jobs have been saved know that that occurred as a result of Government intervention. They will take note of that fact.

Mrs. Knight

Does the Minister recognise that some jobs that could be made available are not being offered because of Government action such as the Employment Protection Act, and that representations were made to his right hon. Friend on this point only last week?

Mr. Golding

I read the report of the British Institute of Management with great interest. It regards the views of the Opposition on this point as a non-sense. The effects of the Employment Protection Act have been completely overstated by the Opposition.