Unemployment (Hansard, 7 March 1985)

§ 5. Mr. Bellingham
asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make an up-to-date statement on the level of unemployment in Northern Ireland.

§ Dr. Boyson
Figures released today in respect of 14 February show there were 122,957 unemployed claimants in Northern Ireland. The unemployment rate was 21.2 per cent. This represents a slight decrease on the January figure. Employment has stabilised during the past year, and indeed in the past six months of 1984 there has been an increase of more than 4,160 in the numbers in work. Manufacturing output has increased by 3 per cent. in the past 12 months, compared with the previous year.

§ Mr. Bellingham
Does my hon. Friend agree that until and unless unemployment is significantly reduced a political settlement will be extremely difficult to achieve? Does he agree that one of the best ways to reduce unemployment is through the small firms sector, and what is he doing to encourage small firms in Northern Ireland?

§ Dr. Boyson
I agree with my hon. Friend that the lower the rate of unemployment, the less likelihood there is of people standing at street corners who can be recruited into paramilitary organisations. I agree with my hon. Friend also that unemployment can be reduced by the expansion of small businesses and by outside firms coming into the Province. LEDU, the Government organisation for helping small firms, helped 906 companies to establish themselves last year, which created 3,721 jobs. Indeed, we announced two months ago that we would pay between 50 and 75 per cent. of the cost to small firms of calling in auditors, computer experts or other consultants to help them to expand. The number of small firms applying for establishment grants in Northern Ireland is three times higher than it was three years ago.

§ Mr. William Ross
We are grateful for the work that was done that led to the founding of the Maydown Precision Engineering works outside Londonderry, and we were very glad to hear the Minister say that he looks to small businesses to provide many jobs in Northern Ireland, but will he assure the other subcontracting and jobbing engineering firms in Northern Ireland some of which are very small, that they are eligible for exactly the same kind of financial help as was given to Maydown Precision Engineering? Will he assure such small firms in the Londonderry area and in my constituency that they will not find that they are undercut by the financial assistance that was given to that firm?

§ Dr. Boyson
If one adds up the amount of financial assistance that we are giving to industry every year, one sees that the amount of money going to Maydown Precision Engineering is well below 1 per cent., so the other 99 per cent. will be spent around the Province. Maydown precision engineering is a new organisation. Any new organisation anywhere in the Province which believes it can bring in private capital, and its own capital and which needs help in starting up, can approach LEDU and the IDB. As I have already mentioned, last year we assisted nearly 1,000 firms to establish themselves by means of Government money.

§ Rev. William McCrea
In view of the disastrous unemployment figures in my constituency of Mid-Ulster, which has the worst unemployment figures in Europe, will the Minister say how many times he or his Department has been in contact with the Cookstown clothing firm which has given closure notice to its employees? Has his Department made funds available to that firm in order to encourage it to change its mind, or have other firms been approached to take over this business?

§ Dr. Boyson
The IDB, like LEDU, is in continual contact with hundreds of firms inside the Province. I am not certain about the developments during the last week concerning the Cookstown firm. I know that they have been in contact. I shall send a letter to the hon. Gentleman giving details of exactly what has happened during recent weeks.

§ Mr. Hume
Will the Minister investigate why 20 per cent. of the cuts in the youth training programme are in the constituency of Foyle, which includes both Strabane and Derry, two areas with the highest unemployment figures in these islands? I express my appreciation, which is shared by the entire community in Derry, not only for the concern that the Minister has shown about the closure of a major engineering works in the north-west, but for the positive action that he has taken to save those jobs.

§ Dr. Boyson
I appreciate, as, I am sure, does my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, the hon. Members's comments. As to the various community groups and other groups that are taking part in youth training, at the end of last year there was a surplus of places which had not been taken up. An analysis was made throughout the Province of how one could bring into relationship the number of places available on the one side and the number of people making applications on the other. About 80 per cent. of 16-year-olds are now on one form of course or another. About 56 per cent. of those who are on training courses obtain jobs when they leave. Therefore, such training courses in the Province are very helpful. I shall look into the details that apply to the hon. Gentleman's constituency and contact him.

§ Mr. Bell
While the decrease which the Minister has mentioned in the number of unemployed is welcome to the House, does he not agree that there are certain black spots in Northern Ireland which continue to cause concern? I am thinking of Strabane, Cookstown, Newry and Greater Belfast. The most up-to-date figures that are available to me show that 4,035 are out of work in Strabane, 2,661 in Cookstown, 7,996 in Newry and 61,005 in Greater Belfast. Although the Minister has referred to an increase of 4,160 in those at work, does he agree that that is mostly part-time rather than full-time work? Would it not be better if the Government pursued a policy of job creation which would result in people working full-time rather than part-time?

§ Dr. Boyson
We should obviously be delighted if a higher take-up of full-tme jobs in the Province could be achieved, but if it is a choice between no employment and part-time employment we take what we can get. One trusts that those firms which take on part-timers will find that the employees are so good and and that the firms' profits have so increased that their part-timers become full-timers in two or three years' time.
The atmosphere in the Province is better. It is by no means ideal. There are pockets of high unemployment in 1157 Strabane, Cookstown and other places. Indeed, they are some of the highest unemployment areas in the whole of Europe. Special measures must be taken in such cases. The February survey showed that employers throughout the Province intended to employ 2 per cent. more in a year's time than now and to invest 17 per cent. more this year than last. It is by further investment and taking on more workers that the unemployment problem will be solved.