HC Deb 27 June 1988 vol 136 cc7-8
9. Mr. Win Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will commission research on the impact on jobs in Wales of the European Community's proposals for the creation of a single market.

Mr. Peter Walker

We shall be conducting a considerable campaign to ensure that Welsh businesses take full advantage of the opportunities of the single European market, so as to improve job opportunities.

Mr. Griffiths

Does the Minister agree that on the whole the Government and the Commission have taken a rather complacent attitude to the possibility of job creation in the regions? A Minister at the Department of Employment answered a similar question and said that his Department was not prepared to predict whether there would be job increases in the regions. Only today the Henley Centre for Forecasting was prepared to show some enterprise and initiative in predicting that the investment opportunities of the single market will increase the divide between north and south. Should not the Welsh Office be playing a far more dynamic role in trying to ensure that jobs are brought to Wales as a result of the creation of the market?

Mr. Walker

The figures that I gave earlier about inward investment are connected with the desire of overseas firms to have a place in the European market, and they have chosen Wales as that place. It is due to the activities of the Welsh Office and the Welsh Development Agency that over recent times Wales has had a much larger proportion of inward investment than any other part of the United Kingdom.

Mr. Gwilym Jones

May I put it to my right hon. Friend—I do so on the information that the members of the Select Committee on Welsh affairs gleaned during their recent visit to Japan and Korea—that it would not be inappropriate to review the efforts that are being made abroad to promote awareness of all the changes that will come after 1992? That information is as important abroad as at home to the many investors who are contemplating setting up in Wales on the basis that it will be the best place for selling into the European market.

Mr. Walker

There is a great deal to be obtained from the two countries mentioned by my hon. Friend. There is also considerable inward investment to be obtained from the United States and from parts of Europe other than Great Britain. We are organising a considerable worldwide campaign to ensure that the advantages of Wales—for example, the regional development policy, the activities of the Welsh Development Agency and the willingness of the unions to collaborate—are brought to the attention of those who can take advantage of Wales as their location for European business.

Mrs. Clwyd

Is the Secretary of State aware that the Equal Opportunities Commission and the EEC have today produced a joint document on policies for under five-year-olds? I am sure he will agree that an important plank of opportunity under the Single European Act will be equal opportunities for men and women. Is he aware that the report criticises the United Kingdom Government, in particular, for their policies on equal opportunities, the lack of provision for the under-fives and the lack of implementation of the directive on parental leave? Will he study this further?

Mr. Walker

I shall study it further.