HC Deb 11 May 1981 vol 4 cc466-8
2. Mr. Roy Hughes

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will consult representatives of the building and construction industry with a view to organising a public works programme to help alleviate unemployment in Wales.

Mr. Nicholas Edwards

There is regular contact between my Department and representatives of the industry. The Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Conway (Mr. Roberts), will be meeting the National Federation of Building Trades Employers in July. There is already a substantial capital works programme which benefits the construction industry in Wales and I have no plans for increasing it.

Mr. Hughes

With mass unemployment now sweeping the country, is not such a public works programme with import controls what the country needs? Would not it be better for the Government to concentrate on building houses instead of pressurising local authorities such as Newport to sell prefabs, which is against the public interest?

Mr. Edwards

We note that the hon. Gentleman supports a controlled economy. However, he should not underestimate the scale of the capital programme in Wales. About £100 million a year is being spent on the roads programme, £38.3 million on the Health Service and £47 million on the Welsh water authority. The factory building programme by the Welsh Development Agency, which is of direct benefit to the hon. Gentleman's constituency, is responsible for employing about 3,000 people in the construction industry.

Mr. Wigley

Does the Secretary of State recall his visit to Llanberis a year ago to the major construction scheme by the CEGB at Dinorwic? Where will the 2,000 people who are employed on that scheme and who are to lose their jobs find other work?

Mr. Edwards

As the scheme is phased out, a serious problem will be created. That is one reason why we are pressing on urgently with the A55 programme, which will be of direct benefit to the hon. Gentleman's constituency. I regret that a major part of that scheme—the Bangor bypass—is being held up by one individual's legal challenge.

Sir Raymond Gower

I appreciate the public works to which my right hon. Friend refers, including the factory building by the Welsh Development Agency. However, in future consideration of such matters, will he take account of the fact that the construction and building industries are not largely dependent upon imported materials? Will he also take account of the particular and peculiar problems of smaller builders?

Mr. Edwards

Of course we must take account of those matters. However, we must also recognise that construction programmes, however desirable and wherever they are, must be paid for by taxes and burdens on other parts of industry. One must achieve a balance. It is a myth to think that there is a miraculous cure for our economic difficulties involving capital projects in unspecified terms.

Mr. Tom Ellis

Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that only one road laying machine has been working in North Wales this winter?

Mr. Edwards

A major road building programme is continuing in North Wales. It is hard to believe that only one machine has been working on that programme, which has been continued successfully.

Mr. Alec Jones

Does the Secretary of State realise that it is extremely difficult to reconcile his figures with the industrial index for production in the construction industry in Wales, which fell by about 16 per cent. last year? There are large stocks of building materials and thousands of workers in the dole queues. It is difficult to accept the figures. Does the Secretary of State recall that, in the 1930s, many major roads in South Wales were built as a result of public works programmes? Is it not time for an extended public works programme, not only to create employment but to improve the infrastructure, which Wales will need if there is ever an upturn under the present Government?

Mr. Edwards

There has never been such a massive infrastructure programme as that which is being carried out today. It is having a direct benefit on the construction industry. The son of my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Sir A. Costain) was telling me only this week of the benefits to his company of participating in that massive programme in Wales.