§ 3. Mr. McNallyasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will carry out a survey of job losses and job creation in the engineering industry in Greater Manchester in the period 1980 to 1982; and if he will report his findings to the House.
§ Mr. AlisonFigures of job losses for employees, net of job gains, between June 1978 and September 1981, based on census of employment results, will be available later this year.
§ Mr. McNallyI am grateful to the Minister for that illuminating reply. If he were to carry out the study for which I have asked, would he not find the same evidence that has come to me and to other hon. Members from Greater Manchester that Government policy in high technology engineering industries is destroying the good with the bad, tomorrow's industries as well as yesterday's, the efficient and the inefficient? That is the real criticism of Government policy and its impact on Greater Manchester's unemployment.
§ Mr. AlisonThe hon. Gentleman has failed to understand what is happening in the Greater Manchester area. He does not seem to have heard about Ferranti Instrumentation, Moston and the Royal ordnance factory at Patricroft, which provide expanding employment opportunities in high technology.
§ Mr. Andrew F. BennettWould the Minister look at the early-day motion that lists the engineering firms that have disappeared from Stockport? Does he appreciate that the most depressing thing about the situation in Stockport is the disappearance of most of the engineering apprenticeships? The town, which had a fine tradition for training skilled engineers, is being destroyed by the Government.
§ Mr. AlisonThe hon. Gentleman talks about jobs that have been destroyed, but he seems to have forgotten that in the 1960s and 1970s under a Labour Government unemployment doubled. I should have thought that the hon. Gentleman would welcome the news that Fairey Engineering in Stockport has won a £24 million contract from the United States.