§ 9. Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Wales what are the latest unemployment figures for the Garnant and Ammanford travel-to-work areas of the Amman valley.
§ Mr. Nicholas EdwardsOn 14 October unemployment in the travel-to-work area covering Garnant and Ammanford was 7,066, a rate of 19 per cent.
§ Dr. ThomasAs the figures that the Secretary of State has been kind enough to produce emphasise the bleakness of the unemployment position throughout the Amman valley, may I ask him to plead with the Department of Industry to give back to the area its former financial incentives, otherwise firms such as Beechwood, which has parallel plants in England and Wales, will invariably close its Welsh operations in hard times?
§ Mr. EdwardsThe hon. Gentleman will be aware that this is now part of a travel-to-work area that is a uniform development area. There has recently been an announcement in that travel-to-work area of major factory building 570 by the Welsh Development Agency and that there is also a major road improvement to link the area to the M4. All these, I am sure, will help.