HC Deb 07 July 1993 vol 228 cc324-5
9. Mr. Graham

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he last met Scottish Enterprise to discuss employment prospects in Scotland.

Mr. Stewart

My right hon. Friend and I meet frequently the chairman and chief executive of Scottish Enterprise to discuss a wide range of issues, including economic prospects generally.

Mr. Graham

The Minister will realise that government by the Tories in Scotland has cost nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs. We have seen the threatened loss of roughly 1,000 jobs in Rosyth and 450 jobs are to be lost in my constituency in the royal ordnance factory. The Government are dillying and dandering while thousands of young people are not receiving appropriate training or apprenticeships. All that we have seen is the continual decline in manufacturing industries in Scotland. Is it not time that the Government gave us hope by resigning and allowing the people of Scotland to get back to work? I am sick and tired of seeing my folk facing the dole. Is it not time that the Government faced the dole?

Mr. Stewart

Unemployment in the hon. Gentleman's constituency is 2,421, which is a decline of almost 1,500 over the past five years. I should have thought that even the hon. Gentleman would welcome that. As to manufacturing, I simply point out to the hon. Gentleman, and to the hon. Member for Fyfe, Central (Mr. McLeish) who is muttering on the Front Bench in his usual way, that manufactured exports from Scotland are, on the most recent figures, at a record level.

Mr. Kynoch

Will my hon. Friend tell the hon. Member for Renfrew, West and Inverclyde (Mr. Graham) that the percentage of the working population in Scotland in work compared with others in the European Community is second in the league table? Is that not more positive information as opposed to the doom and gloom that Opposition Members are spreading?

Mr. Stewart

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Denmark is the only major European country with a better figure. Luxembourg, which of course is fairly small, also has a slightly better figure. Civilian employment in Scotland increased by 173,000 between March 1983 and March 1993. Those real figures reveal the nonsense of the constant doom and gloom from the Opposition Benches.

Mr. Wray

Will the Minister explain to the House the shocking state of affairs in relation to 16 and 17-year-olds? Since 1988, thousands more youngsters have become unemployed and out of training as a result of the Government's very unpopular policy of taking benefits away from those kids. Will the Government consider restoring benefits to 16 and 17-year-olds? Will the Minister also consider the discriminatory age-related benefit for 18 to 24-year-olds who do not get paid the same as 25-year-olds and who actually receive £8.55 less? Will the Minister agree to abolish that?

Mr. Stewart

This Government have brought in a guarantee for youth training which is being fully met. That guarantee is available in no other European country. That is the reality and it shows the Government's commitment to ensuring that young people acquire the skills and have the training for the jobs of the future.