13. Mr. Beittaasked the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he plans to take to reduce unemployment in the Alnwick district.
§ Mr. Jim LesterThe Government's policy is to create the economic environment in which employers are encouraged to develop their businesses and to create viable jobs. That will help to reduce unemployment both in Alnwick and in the country as a whole.
§ Mr. BeithWhen will that start? Why has the small firms employment subsidy, which could have been a useful device to achieve that end, been withdrawn from the Alnwick area? Why does the hon. Gentleman's colleague at the Department of Industry persist in trying to persuade a major employer who wants to set up a research institute that he would be better to establish it somewhere other than Alnwick?
§ Mr. LesterI shall take up the last matter with my colleagues at the Department of Industry. We have looked carefully at the small firms employment subsidy scheme. We felt that it was not creating much employment and that the tax cuts that we proposed were more likely to encourage small businesses to develop in Alnwick. Clearly, that is happening.