§ 13. Mr. HainTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many manufacturing jobs there were in the valleys initiative districts in (a) 1987 and (b) at the latest available date.
§ Sir Wyn RobertsThe census of employment shows that there were 62,300 people employed in manufacturing jobs in the programme for the valleys area in 1987, and 57,400 in 1991, the latest year for which census of employment data are available.
§ Mr. HainDoes not the Minister's reply give the lie to the way in which the Secretary of State is talking up what has been happening in the valleys? It is a devastating indictment of the Government's policy that full-time adult male jobs, predominantly in manufacturing, for which people might earn about £300 a week are being replaced by part-time jobs for which one is lucky to receive £100 a week. There will be a devastating future for the valleys if the policy continues.
§ Sir Wyn RobertsThe hon. Gentleman is wrong and I am surprised at what he says. During that period, the valleys fared better than Great Britain as a whole. There was an 11 per cent. fall in manufacturing employment between 1988 and 1992 in the programme for the valleys area, but in Great Britain, over the same period, the fall was 14 per cent. That is a fair measure of the value of the programme for the valleys.
522 As for unemployment generally, I am sure that even Opposition Members will be glad to hear that unemployment is coming down faster in the programme for the valleys area than it is in the rest of Wales and indeed in the rest of the United Kingdom.