§ 12. Miss Wrightasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many redundancies were notified to his Department in the months of July, August and September in (a) Birmingham and (b) the West Midlands.
§ Mr. Jim LesterThe number of redundancies in Birmingham notified to my Department and confirmed by the Manpower Services Commission as likely to occur are as follows: in July, 1,560; August 1,040; September, 1,184. The figures for the West Midlands are: July, 6,136; August, 8,558; September, 4,324. These figures are provisional and are redundancies involving 10 or more employees.
§ Miss WrightIs the hon. Gentleman aware that I sympathise considerably with him over the difficulty he must have in persuading his Cabinet colleagues to adopt a stance less like that of the legendary ostrich in relation to the catastrophic state of industry in this country and particularly in the West Midlands? Taking into account the figures he has just given what hope can the hon. Gentleman offer my constituents and others in the West Midlands of an upturn in industry that will enable the many thousands who have been made redundant in the past year once more to provide for their families at an adequate level?
§ Mr. LesterThe position of the West Midlands is aggravated because it has a much higher level of manufacturing industry than other parts of the country. When there is a recession it is inevitable that that is where the blows first strike. However, the West Midlands is a very important manufacturing centre for the motor car industry, and other parts of the world from Italy to Detroit are suffering problems in respect of that industry.
The best hope for the recovery of demand in the West Midlands is for people to start buying its manufactured products. I am very encouraged to see that Pressed Steel-Fisher has suspended its voluntary redundancy scheme because of the increased demand for the Morris Ital.
§ Mr. StokesIs my hon. Friend aware that the redundancies in the private sector in the West Midlands would be more bearable if there were more signs of redundancies in the public sector so that manufacturing industry was not bearing all the suffering?
§ Mr. LesterThe Government have made a considerable start in trying to restore the balance between the public and private sectors. Fortunately they have been able to do that without having to resort to redundancies because of the turnover of manpower in the public sector.
§ Mrs. Renée ShortIs the hon. Gentleman aware that unemployment in the West Midlands is well above the national average? That is his Government's achievement. Does he realise that not a day goes by in Wolverhampton without news of more redundancies and short-time working? What does he intend to do to help young people, particularly now that he has had a £72 million windfall from the EEC? Will he channel any of it to the Wolverhampton area?
§ Mr. LesterYes, we will channel it. We shall also continue to maintain the guarantee in the Wolverhampton area that every young person who has not obtained a job by Easter after having left school will get a place in the youth opportunities programme. That guarantee will be maintained. The hon. Lady will have heard from earlier answers of the element of training that we are trying to incorporate in that. The suggestion that the 1093 Government have created the unemployment in the West Midlands would also suggest that there is some magical means by which the Government can finance a reduction of unemployment in the West Midlands. The only way to reduce unemployment in the West Midlands is once again to design and produce the products that we want to buy in Britain and to export them successfully.