HC Deb 22 April 1986 vol 96 cc163-4
12. Mr. Knox

asked the Paymaster General how many people were out of work in the Staffordshire, Moorlands parliamentary constituency at the most recent count.

Mr. Lang

On 6 March 1986 the number of unemployed claimants in the Staffordshire, Moorlands parliamentary constituency was 3,570.

Mr. Knox

Is my hon. Friend aware that unemployment in my constituency has risen very considerably under the two Governments in the last 12 years? How does he explain this in an area where wages and salaries are, and always have been, low, productivity is high and labour relations are excellent?

Mr. Lang

The unemployment rate in the Leek travel-to-work area is 9.1 per cent. That is certainly higher than we would wish, but it is lower than it was a year ago. My hon. Friend might like to know that unfilled vacancies at Leek and Cheadle are up by over 50 per cent. on a year ago. I commend to my hon. Friend our booklet "Action for Jobs", which contains details of over 30 specific training and employment schemes which we have launched to combat the unemployment problem. In particular, for the low-paid in his constituency the job start allowance of £20 for anyone taking a job at under £80 a week might be appropriate.

Mr. Ashley

Is the Minister aware that many people in the Staffordshire, Moorlands constituency have already got on their bikes to seek work? If the Minister got on his bike to go to look for a job in the adjacent constituency of Stoke-on-Trent, South he would find that unemployment has risen far faster under this Government than it did under the previous Labour Government. The reason for that is the failure of the Government to expand the economy. May we have some action to expand the economy in Stoke-on-Trent, South, and some action to help the economy in general?

Mr. Lang

The right hon. Gentleman will know that employment has also been expanding rapidly. As the right hon. Gentleman also knows, I was in Stoke-on-Trent yesterday at the national garden festival, and there I found substantial evidence of Government help, amounting to many millions of pounds. In the community programme, that money created about two thirds of the 1,500 or more jobs at the garden festival.