Welsh Valleys Initiative (Hansard, 5 July 1990)

§ Viscount Ullswater
My Lords, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Wales has made clear his full commitment to the programme for the valleys. Last Friday, 29th June, he issued a statement, a copy of which is in the Library, about the excellent progress made in the first two years. He intends to make a further statement in the autumn setting out his proposals for future activities within the programme, which has been extended until March 1993.

§ Lord Morris of Castle Morris
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Viscount for that reply. But can he further assist me by telling me what specific budgets have been assigned by the Welsh Office for the Welsh Valleys Initiative for the coming three years, and whether the number of civil servants specifically assigned to the Welsh Valleys Initiative is planned to rise or fall?

§ Viscount Ullswater
My Lords, the budget, which was expected to reach £500 million for the first three years, is protected for those years. However, as I indicated in my original Answer, a further statement will be made in the autumn. At that time the spending levels will also be assessed. I believe that the same would apply in respect of the number of people involved.

§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, we shall read the Secretary of State's report with great interest. However, is it not at the same time the case that since the valleys initiative was launched industrial and employment prospects in the valleys have declined? Is it not also the case that in the last 10 years 27,000 workers have lost their jobs in the valleys? Can the noble Viscount give an assurance on behalf of his right honourable friend that there will be a commitment of real resources to revive the valleys?

§ Viscount Ullswater
My Lords, since June 1988 there has been a fall in unemployment in the valleys of 11,500. That is a considerably larger percentage fall —5.3 per cent. —than that for Wales, which was 4.2 per cent., and for the United Kingdom as a whole of 3.1 per cent. That indicates the effectiveness of the programme.

§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, can the Minister give the figures for depopulation in that period?

§ Viscount Ullswater
No, my Lords, I could not do so without notice. However, the noble Lord will be aware that the traditional industries of coal-mining and steelworking in that area have become yesterday's industries and obviously newer industries have to arrive.

§ Lord Prys-Davies
My Lords, the existence of the initiative is at least an acknowledgement that the valley communities of South Wales face severe problems. Can the Minister tell the House what part of the £500 million to which he referred is new money which has been channelled to the initiative? Secondly, are we to conclude that at present the department has no specific objectives for the initiative to be achieved by 1993?

§ Viscount Ullswater
My Lords, it is impossible to be precise about the level of additional money associated with this particular programme. However, the programme itself gives expenditure a new focus and is a vital factor in the significant increase in and direction of activity in a number of key areas. One ought to look to some of the achievements; for example, the 58 inward investment projects which have been secured involving capital investment of over £136 million —one every two weeks—leading to the creation or safeguarding of nearly 8,000 jobs.

§ Lord Wade of Chorlton
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that the valleys initiative has done a great deal to broaden the base of industry throughout the whole of Wales, and particularly in the valleys, and has provided greater opportunities for growth in Wales than we have seen for a long time?

§ Viscount Ullswater
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for what he said. The Welsh Development Agency, for instance, has provided 826,000 square feet of advance factory space during those two years, which is a great increase.

§ Lord Diamond
My Lords, would the noble Viscount care to reconsider his off-the-cuff comment that steel and coal are industries of yesteryear?

§ Viscount Ullswater
My Lords, I was indicating that the number of pits that are being worked in South Wales has declined enormously. I apologise to the House if I gave the wrong impression.

§ Lord Callaghan of Cardiff
My Lords, does the noble Viscount agree that the House will have heard with interest the reply to my noble friend Lord Prys-Davies that it is difficult to say what additional resources have been devoted to this programme? Is he aware that the general opinion in Wales is that the so-called initiative consists of Mr. Peter Walker adding up the total cost of the schemes introduced by his predecessor, now the noble Lord, Lord Crickhowell, publishing the result and hoping to claim it as a great propaganda victory? Will he agree that it is a publicity gimick that has gone wrong?

§ Viscount Ullswater
My Lords, if the initiative obtains the publicity which the noble Lord attributed to it, I believe that that in itself is some achievement. But there is no doubt that there has been economic, housing and environmental benefit. Over 1,100 acres of derelict land have been cleared and there is the prospect of the virtual elimination of dereliction from the valleys by the end of the century. That must be an achievement.

§ Lord Gibson-Watt
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that it does not matter which Secretary of State in this Administration produced the plan. The fact is that in South Wales there has never before been a venture such as this and most people in Wales recognise it for what it is?

§ Viscount Ullswater
My Lords, I should like to thank my noble friend for those comments.

§ Lord Morris of Castle Morris
My Lords, is the Minister aware that two years into the Welsh Valleys Initiative the level of unemployment in Merthyr and Rhymney, which are at the centre of the valleys, is still the highest in Wales? In the light of that fact will he congratulate the former Secretary of State for Wales on having in the Welsh Valleys Initiative written the finest work of fiction since the Mabinogion?

§ Viscount Ullswater
No, my Lords, I cannot agree with the noble Lord's proposition.