§ 1. Mr. Rogersasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, further to his answer of 29 January, Official Report, column 376, he will take steps to prepare estimates of the cost to the Exchequer of the current level of unemployment in Wales.
2. Mr. MichaelCocks asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, further to his answer of 29 January, Official Report, column 376, he will take steps to prepare estimates of the costs to the Exchequer of the current level of unemployment in the south-west.
§ 3. Mr. Patchettasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, further to his answer of 29 January, Official Report, column 376, he will take steps to prepare estimates of the cost to the Exchequer of the current level of unemployment in Yorkshire and Humberside.
§ The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. John MacGregor)I regret that such estimates could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. RogersWould it not be reasonably easy to calculate the cost of the 180,000 unemployed in Wales, especially as that figure has grown by at least 3,000 in the past month? When will the Chancellor take real steps to solve the unemployment in the valleys of Wales?
§ Mr. MacGregorThe disproportionate cost of making regional calculations of the kind that the hon. Gentleman wants comes not from calculating unemployment benefit but in relation to supplementary and housing benefit.
402 The hon. Gentleman will know that with six years of steady growth in the economy, overcoming all the difficulties of the 1970s, the improvement in many of the basic industries in Wales and the attraction of new firms to Wales on a large scale, we are making considerable progress in turning the Welsh economy round on a basis that will ensure regular prosperity for the future.
§ Mr. CocksThe Minister referred to disproportionate cost, but has he considered the disproportionate cost of the tens of thousands of people who are on the dole in the south-west? Would it not put into perspective the Chancellor's possible concessions in tax relief if we had some idea of what it costs to keep all those people out of work?
§ Mr. MacGregorI am sure that the right hon. Gentleman will have observed that since the 1983 election there have been 100,000 new additional jobs in the south-west, which shows that employment is increasing. In addition, considerable employment and training measures are being used in the south-west, involving 80,000 people. That leads to an average overall unemployment level of 9.7 per cent. I believe that the best prospects for the south-west lie in the continuation of the Government's financial and economic policies.
§ Mr. PatchettIs the Minister aware that more than 250,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in the Yorkshire and Humberside region since 1979 as a result of the Government's policies? What is he prepared to do to reverse that trend?
§ Mr. MacGregorI am sure that the hon. Gentleman is also aware that there have been 74,000 new jobs in Yorkshire and Humberside since 1983. The hon. Gentleman will no doubt have seen the survey which came out this morning from the Association of British Chambers of Commerce. It is one of the most optimistic recent surveys of industry in Yorkshire and Humberside and shows that things are moving in the right direction.
§ Sir Anthony MeyerIn view of the rising number of jobs in Wales that are dependent on inward investment, what effect would the Labour party's policies in that regard have on future employment prospects?
§ Mr. MacGregorI am sure my hon. Friend is entirely right in saying that, just as Wales has been one of the major beneficiaries on inward investment, often in high-tech and high-growth industries for the future, so nothing is more likely to make those industries and investors think less of investing in the United Kingdom than the kinds of policies that we are beginning to see emerge from the Opposition.
§ Mr. SpellerDoes my right hon. Friend agree that there is a great problem associated with lumping these three questions together? The right hon. Member for Bristol, South (Mr. Cocks) lumped the whole of the south-west together. Does my right hon. Friend agree that that epitomises the problem, because the prosperity of Bristol drags up the apparant prosperity of the south-west? Does my right hon. Friend agree that his Department should consider the south-west as Devon and Cornwall, perhaps, which have a smaller population than Bristol, rather than lump them together so that, in economic terms, the best pulls up the worst?
§ Mr. MacGregorI take my hon. Friend's point, but he will realise that the question was not one that I tabled or 403 wished to see. He will also know that present and future improvements in infrastructure in his constituency are among the most important means of helping to ensure prosperity in his part of Devon.
§ Mr. HickmetIs my right hon. Friend aware of the substantial Government investment in South Humberside, which has three enterprise zones, developmeent area status and substantial assistance from Europe? Is he further aware that unemployment in my constituency has fallen faster than in any other, bar five? Does that not demonstrate the Government's commitment to regions such as Yorkshire and Humberside?
§ Mr. MacGregorMy hon. Friend is right. Scunthorpe has undoubtedly benefited from designation as an enterprise zone. The much better targeting of regional development policies to concentrate on areas of greatest need has helped my hon. Friend's constituency considerably. It received more than £12 million in the earlier regional development scheme after June 1983, another £4.2 million in the latest development scheme and a further £4.8 million in regional selective assistance. Those sums have contributed substantially to the results that my hon. Friend has described.
§ Mr. DuffyWill the Chief Secretary confirm that the 74,000 jobs that he claims for Yorkshire and Humberside were not in manufacturing? Can he confirm that the unpublished Government report to which he is privy said that matters would get worse in South Yorkshire? Does he agree that relief can come only from economic expansion at home and overseas? Why did the Chancellor not seek a co-ordinated economic expansion when he had the opportunity at the Group of Five meeting last weekend?
§ Mr. MacGregorThe hon. Gentleman will know that South Yorkshire, like many other parts of Europe, has experienced problems with the decline of heavy industries. That is one reason for the fall in manufacturing employment. I hope that he will read the Association of British Chambers of Commerce survey, published this morning, which shows that in Yorkshire and Humberside there are substantially better expectations for home orders and export orders and confidence in manufacturing industry generally.
§ Mr. HoltDoes my right hon. Friend agree that employment in Yorkshire and Humberside and Teesside could be vastly improved if the Government were to harmonise with the rest of the EEC and have light duties charged centrally so that we have fair competition? Does he agree that that would enable jobs which have been lost because of lack of harmonisation to come back to the north-east?
§ Mr. MacGregorMy hon. Friend knows that that is not a matter for me, but I shall ensure that his question is passed on.
§ Mr. HattersleyThe Chief Secretary will recall that in his first supplementary answer he made claims about the past six years, that in his second supplementary answer he made claims about the past three years and that in his third supplementary answer he made claims about the past four years. Does he not find it demeaning to spend so much of his time manipulating the figures in that way?
§ Mr. MacGregorNot in the slightest. I am not demeaning the figures—I am giving the figures. I have 404 given the employment figures since the June 1983 general election, when the electorate gave the Government a resounding vote of confidence in our previous policies.
As for economic growth, between 1979 and 1981 we experienced a world recession and the difficulties of restructuring the British economy after the effects of the Labour Government's policies. The past six years have been the longest period of sustained, balanced growth for a long time. I should have thought that the right hon. Gentleman would be pleased about that.