§ 3. Mr. ClellandTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what research has been commissioned by his Department into the impact of the single market in the north-east.
§ The Minister of State, Department of Employment (Mr. John Cope)Our department has not commissioned research exactly as described in the hon. Gentleman's question. The impact on particular sectors and regions will depend on how successfully individual firms respond.
§ Mr. ClellandShould not the Department have conducted such research, given that during the past 10 years of Conservative Government manufacturing industry in the north-east has been reduced massively, with the resultant loss of skills that the Government are doing little or nothing to replace? How can the region be expected to compete on anything like equal terms when more and more people are being employed in service industries and fewer and fewer in making goods to sell outside the region and the country?
§ Mr. CopeI noticed the report produced by the Northern Development Company the other day which stated that it had just had its most successful year ever in increasing jobs in the north-east and in investment. That is why business confidence in the north-east is now at its highest level for many years, as another recent survey showed.
§ Mr. DevlinHas my right hon. Friend had a chance to see the projected employment increase for the third quarter of 1989? According to that, the north-east is second only to East Anglia in the projected rate of growth in jobs.
§ Mr. CopeThe north-east is extremely well placed in the country as a whole and for 1992 and the single market. Unemployment in that area has been falling fast.