Corby: Job Creation (Hansard, 26 March 1985)

§ Lord Ellenborough
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

§ The Minister without Portfolio (Lord Young of Graffham)
My Lords, there are no definitive statistics on jobs created. However, according to Department of Trade and Industry estimates of the number of new jobs associated with projects attracting regional aid, some 6,000 jobs have been created in Corby since 1980 and a further 5,000 are in prospect.

§ Lord Ellenborough
My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for that encouraging reply. Does he agree that it is all the more impressive, bearing in mind that Corby has suffered from the loss of several thousand jobs as a result of the British Steel closure some years ago, as announced under the last Labour Government? May I ask my noble friend what Government measures have been and are being taken, and what other organisations and various bodies, such as the Corby Industrial Development Centre, are helping Corby with a considerable degree of success, particularly at a time when the national trend is adverse? Is my noble friend satisfied that the experience drawn at Corby is being applied with the same vigour in other areas which are suffering from economic hardship?

§ Lord Young of Graffham
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that supplementary question. In fact since 1979 some £43 million has been spent in regional aid in Corby and some 217 companies have received offers of aid. That is how 6,000 jobs have been created since 1980. Corby also has the benefit of having the most successful enterprise zone, is also a steel closure area and thus eligible for aid from the European Coal and Steel Community. What Corby demonstrates in microcosm is that employment is moving from manufacturing to the service sector. Many of the jobs created in Corby in the past three years have been in the service sector; and, against the national trend, unemployment in Corby has been dropping.

§ Lord Grimond
My Lords, does the noble Lord the Minister agree that in addition to regional aid some important factors at Corby have been as follows? First of all, the work of the British Steel Corporation; and, 866 secondly, the co-operation of the people of Corby themselves in putting some of their redundancy pay into local initiative. Will he assure the House that this example is, as has been suggested by the noble Lord, Lord Ellenborough, being followed elsewhere? Can he tell us what success the National Coal Board are having in depressed areas for which they have been largely responsible, and whether the miners are putting any of their redundancy pay into local initiative?

§ Lord Young of Graffham
My Lords, I am grateful for that question. What Corby demonstrates more than anything else is that if one is prepared to look forward rather than backwards and prepared to look for the creation of new types of jobs which are becoming available, then growth in employment will result. What we must not do is to continue to look backwards for the old days which will not return. I am afraid that there are insufficient statistics available to my knowledge at the moment on current progress made within the coal industry, but I shall certainly make inquiries on the matter.

§ Baroness Fisher of Rednal
My Lords, does the noble Lord agree that Corby is an area that has employed a large percentage of male labour? Are the figures that he has given broken down into female and male labour or are the new industries in the main female orientated?

§ Lord Young of Graffham
My Lords, I am afraid that I have to confess that I do not have the details; but I shall write to let the noble Baroness know the difference. My information is that the jobs are spread throughout. However, I shall make inquiries.

§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, is the Minister aware that what Corby demonstrates even more than the two examples he gave is that where the Government intervene practically and constructively with the injection of capital then unemployment can be tackled? When is the example of Corby to be followed in other areas of high unemployment and acute difficulty in this country?

§ Lord Young of Graffham
My Lords, that is an interpretation that could be construed. But I suspect the real reason is that Corby is much more willing to look forward than to look back. Corby represents the most successful of the first of the eleven enterprise zones that were established. It has demonstrated time and time again that it is willing to look towards new activities. If that example could be followed, then I think that all policies would be successful.

§ Baroness Seear
My Lords, does the Minister not agree that while we are all extremely glad that Corby is doing so well—I am particularly glad because I remember visiting it with the unemployment committee when the city was receiving the first impact of the closure of the steel works—nevertheless, it cannot be used as an example to say that the same can be done everywhere else? Corby is surely in an exceptionally favourable geographical location and that does not apply in many other areas which have been so badly affected, but where a great deal more help is needed.

§ Lord Young of Graffham
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Seear, for the question. Of course it is true that not all parts of the country are as amenable to the new world. But I can recall visiting Bradford not so many weeks ago and seeing the remarkable progress which it has made in attracting tourism. I can remember very clearly 25 or 30 years ago visiting Bradford. Without wishing to cast any aspersion on the citizens of that city, it was not a place to which I would have gone for my holidays at that time.

§ Lord Beswick
My Lords, since the noble Lord talks about looking forward, will he say, as one interested in industry, how far forward they can look if they are allocated £5 million, which was the figure allocated to the new developments by the National Coal Board? Can he say how they could have looked forward with imagination if they had been given something of the £600 million which was later spent on policing during the strike period?

§ Lord Young of Graffham
My Lords, to my knowledge the amount of money which has been allocated towards the enterprise board for the National Coal Board is rather more than £5 million. But the point that I am trying to make this afternoon to your Lordships' House is that attitude is often equally as important as funds, if not more important.

§ Lord Beswick
My Lords, but the original amount allocated to the coal board enterprise was £5 million. It was later increased to £10 million. Does not the allocation of that small amount indicate the attitude that is bedevilling the present Government?

§ Lord Young of Graffham
My Lords, I think that demonstrated that at the time the original £5 million was allocated and the time when it was increased to £10 million the industry was in some disarray. Now that miners are back at work, I hope that the National Coal Board, together with the people who work with them, can start to plan positively for the future.