Labour Statistics (Hansard, 3 May 1988)

§ 5. Mr. Knowles
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what has been the rate of change in unemployment levels in the last 12 months in the east midlands.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. Patrick Nicholls)
In the year to March, seasonally adjusted adult unemployment in the east midlands fell by 33,400, or nearly 18 per cent.

§ Mr. Knowles
I thank my hon. Friend for his reply. Will he confirm that in Nottingham, East, which covers a large part of the inner city of Nottingham, unemployment has fallen by 13 per cent. in the past year? Can he quantify the rise in unfilled job vacancies that have been registered?

§ Mr. Nicholls
My hon. Friend is entirely correct in what he says about his constituency. Unemployment in the Nottingham travel-to-work area has fallen by more than 7,000–16 per cent.—in the year to March 1988. Vacancies notified to jobcentres in the east midlands region are up by 21.7 per cent. for the year ended March 1987, and they are up by 20.3 per cent. in the Nottingham travel-to-work area over the same period.

§ Mr. Ashton
That is certainly not the case in the rest of Nottinghamshire. Is the Minister aware that in my coal mining area of Bassetlaw unemployment has not fallen at all but remains at 14 or 15 per cent. ? When will the Government have a proper regional policy in coal mining areas, where there has been a devastating increase in unemployment over the past few years and where very few new jobs are being created?

§ Mr. Nicholls
If the hon. Gentleman wishes to talk about the coal mining industry as such, he will know that the Government have pumped substantial sums of money 712 into mining generally. As to the redundancies that have occurred, the Government have put a considerable amount of money into British Coal Enterprise Ltd. to try to help people through those redundancies. The hon. Gentleman cannot avoid the fact that if he considers the region and unemployment there as a whole he will find that the figures are as I have stated them to be, and they should give even his unemployed constituents considerable hope.

§ Mr. Brandon-Bravo
It is true that the east midlands region is one of great opportunity, but I am sure my hon. Friend is aware that there remain some sad pockets of severe unemployment. I draw to his attention the 19,500 people who remain unemployed in the city of Nottingham, which is, after all, at the centre of a very prosperous region. Will my hon. Friend, when considering travel-to-work statistics, ensure that they do not disguise still-stubborn pockets of unemployment?

§ Mr. Nicholls
My hon. Friend is correct. It is obvious that within a general pattern of figures specific areas will take longer to emerge from the recession with which the Government have had to cope.
If my hon. Friend is concerned about current Government aid, I can tell him that since 1979 £98.7 million has been ploughed into the east midlands, of which Corby has had £71.9 million. Although we realise—n the way that the Opposition do not—hat the answer to all the world's woes is not to pour in Government money, in so far as that plays a proper part in the dimension of the problem, the Government have been playing their part.