HC Deb 13 February 1995 vol 254 c652
9. Mr. John Marshall

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what are the latest figures for unemployment in Wales; and what was the figure in December 1992.

Mr. Richards

In December 1994, the seasonally adjusted number of persons on the claimant unemployment count in Wales was 109,000, some 8.6 per cent. of the work force, compared with 133,200, or 10.5 per cent. in December 1992. That represents a fall of 24,200 or 18 per cent.

Mr. Marshall

I thank my hon. Friend for that answer, which will be welcomed by everyone, except the professional pessimists on the Opposition Benches. Does he agree that that decline would not have taken place if we had had a national minimum wage, if we had signed the social chapter or if we had left the European Union, as recommended by the right hon. Member for Sedgefield (Mr. Blair) in 1983?

Mr. Richards

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. With his interest in the subject, he will not have failed to have read the latest CBI Welsh industrial trends, which show that new orders are increasing at the fastest rate since they were first published in 1978, that output is well above the UK average at some 6.3 per cent. and that optimism—generally and about exports—is at a record level. Those trends are supported by British chambers of commerce, Dun and Bradstreet and Touche Ross.

Mrs. Clwyd

Given the well-established link between unemployment and poverty, will the Minister comment on yet another report which shows that, under his Government, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer? The top tenth of the population are now 60 per cent. better off than they were in 1979, while the bottom tenth of the population are 17 per cent. worse off than they were in 1979. One child in every three is living in poverty. What are his Government going to do about that?

Mr. Richards

The hon. Lady raises an interesting point: the link between unemployment and poverty. She may care to know that in my county of Clwyd, unemployment fell in the past year by some 15 per cent. yet Clwyd county council, through its Clwyd welfare rights unit, employed an additional seven people in September to give advice on benefits. That unit cost some £800,000 to set up.

I have with me a glossy leaflet put out by the Clwyd welfare rights unit and published quarterly by Clwyd county council. It describes these seven employees as the Magnificent Seven, and goes on to say: You may have bumped into some of the new officers when they recently took part in a treasure hunt to acquaint themselves with their new surroundings". I think that will suffice.