HC Deb 11 May 1992 vol 207 cc363-5
10. Mr. Jonathan Evans

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what are the latest unemployment figures for Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. David Hunt

I welcome my hon. Friend after his tremendous achievement at Brecon and Radnor. I give him the statistic that in March this year seasonally adjusted unemployment in Wales fell to 122,500.

Mr. Evans

Does my right hon. Friend agree that one reason why he was able to make the historic announcement that unemployment in Wales on a seasonally adjusted basis had fallen for the first time to the national level was the return of confidence that was brought about by record inward investment to Wales? I invite my right hon. Friend to congratulate my constituents on the inward investment that their part of Wales has attracted. It was announced last week in Ystradgynlais that Lucas SEI and Sumitomo would be creating 500 jobs.

Mr. Hunt

I agree with my hon. Friend that that was a very welcome announcement. The joint venture between Lucas SEI and Sumitomo is to be welcomed warmly. That announcement, the announcement by Original Bradford Soapworks of Rhode island on the creation of a major investment project in Alyn and Deeside—I was able personally to welcome the United States managing director on Friday—and today's announcement means, as I have stressed, that more than 1,000 new jobs are forecast for Wales. That will come on top of the previous record levels of inward investment. This is a record of which everyone in Wales has a right to be proud. We are very much top of the premier league for inward investment, and we intend to stay there.

Dr. Howells

Although everyone welcomes the announcement of new jobs, does the Secretary of State agree that much has to be improved in the way in which we carry out training and retraining in Wales? Does he understand that the Auditor-General's recently published report on the abysmal performance of an unnamed training and enterprise council in Wales is a signal that we must apply ourselves to the training and retraining of the long-term unemployed, as well as merely servicing high-tech employers in south Wales? What will the right hon. Gentleman do about the long-term unemployed in south Wales?

Mr. Hunt

I agree with the hon. Gentleman that perhaps the greatest challenge facing Wales in the 1990s is to ensure that high skills are available to supply new investors with the level of skilled technology that they will need. I have great confidence in the TECs in Wales which formed the first network of such councils to be set up in the United Kingdom. I believe that the councils are rising to the challenge, but the hon. Gentleman is right to say we must concentrate on policies that will ensure the level of skilled labour for which employers will look in the 1990s.

11. Mr. Simon Coombs

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the level of employment in Wales in (a) 1979 and (b) 1992.

Mr. Gwilym Jones

The civilian work force in employment in Wales for March 1979 was 1,140,000. The figure for the latest available date, December 1991, was 1,147,000.

Mr. Coombs

I welcome my hon. Friend to his new position on the Front Bench and I wish him well. I wish to point out to the House the improvement in the level of employment in the Principality over those 13 years, which is very much to be welcomed. Will my hon. Friend confirm that the latest Welsh survey of industrial development trends shows that there is a new growth of confidence in the Principality—clearly, as a result of the Government's policies? Does not that trend seem fit to continue as we come out of the recession generally across the United Kingdom?

Mr. Jones

I thank my hon. Friend for his kind remarks. He is absolutely right in the general thrust of his question. There is exactly the right combination in Wales —falling unemployment, falling inflation, falling interest rates and, significantly, a reducing pay differential against United Kingdom pay rates. That suggests confidence in the Welsh work force and the Welsh economy. As my hon. Friend says, I am sure that Wales will lead the United Kingdom out of recession.