Unemployment (Hansard, 7 July 1993)

§ 11. Mr. David Marshall
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the most recent total of long-term unemployed people in Scotland; what plans he has to reduce this number; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Stewart
In April 1993, there were 86,591 people in Scotland who had been unemployed for 12 months or longer. That represents a rate of increase since April 1992 of about one third of that for Great Britain as a whole. More help than ever before is now available to long-term unemployed people in their efforts to return to work.

§ Mr. Marshall
Has the Minister absolutely no shame or anger at the tragic figures which, in the case of Glasgow, account for almost one in two of the unemployed? Does he not realise that many long-term unemployed have never had a job since they left school and may never obtain one? Does he not realise that we now have a second generation of long-term unemployed and that those scandalous figures are the biggest blight on the face of Scottish society today? Instead of cutting funding and training, when will the Government tackle that problem with the priority, urgency and resources that it so desperately requires?

§ Mr. Stewart
The hon. Gentleman is obviously not aware of the measures that were announced by my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Thames (Mr. Lamont) in the Budget. The hon. Gentleman might have 327 mentioned that, in his own constituency, for example, the number of unemployed has dropped over the past five years from 6,968 to 4,723—a very substantial drop indeed. However, I agree with the hon. Gentleman that the long-term unemployed are a priority. Two out of three unemployed people go off the register within six months —they go back into the labour market. The Government have brought in a package of new measures such as learning for work, the local enterprise company challenge, the expansion of business start-ups and community action, all of which are directed specifically to help the problem of the long-term unemployed. Frankly, it does neither the long-term unemployed nor anyone else any good when Opposition Members do not recognise that the Government are tackling the problem and are devoting considerable resources to it.

§ Mr. Charles Kennedy
Will the Minister acknowledge the specific and persistent difficulty of long-term unemployment in the highlands and islands? After the exchange that the hon. Member for Western Isles (Mr. Macdonald) had with the Secretary of State, will the Minister bear in mind the great concern that was expressed at a meeting earlier this week of Ross and Cromarty district council about the downturn in the fabrication sector, for example Highlands Fabricators at Nigg and McDermotts at Ardersler, and the huge impact that that is having on the region's economy in terms of the massive increase in unemployment? Would the Minister be willing later in the year to meet representatives of the various public agencies from the area to discuss difficulties that are becoming deeper by the week?

§ Mr. Stewart
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and my hon. Friend the Minister who is responsible for the highlands and islands are always willing to meet, as appropriate, representatives of the agencies concerned. I thought that the hon. Gentleman was going to congratulate the Government on achieving objective 1 status for the highlands and islands. The whole House will want to congratulate my right hon. Friend the Minister for Industry on a great achievement for the highlands area.

§ Mr. Ernie Ross
Is the Minister not ashamed that some of those who are now categorised as long-term unemployed are 16 and 17-year-olds who, despite his claims, have not had a job since they left school? Six days after the Budget, Youth Aid advised the Government that 124,700 young people did not have a job or a training place and that 78 per cent. of them had no money. When will the Minister get his backside off his seat and do something about the real problem for young people in Scotland?

§ Mr. Stewart
Not all young people want a training place. [Interruption.] They may or may not want a training place. We hope that they do. I assure the hon. Gentleman that there are training places available for all young people who wish to have training places. Indeed, that is why we improved the quality of the training guarantee by setting time limits within which young people would be guaranteed to receive the offer of a place.