HC Deb 18 February 1960 vol 617 cc148-50W
93. Mr. Steele

asked the President of the Board of Trade if the Vale of Leven district is covered by the designation of Dumbarton as a place eligible for Government aid under the Local Employment Bill.

Mr. Maudling

Yes. The Dumbarton district includes Dumbarton, Alexandria, Helensburgh and Bowling Ministry of Labour Exchange areas. The Vale of Leven, where there is a Board of Trade industrial estate, is in the Alexandria area.

96. Mr. Mathew

asked the President of the Boad of Trade for what reason he has included high unemployment areas in the County of Cornwall as initially eligible to receive Government assistance under the Local Employment Bill while excluding every similar area in need of assistance in the County of Devon, with the exception of Ilfracombe.

Mr. Maudling

Ilfracombe and the parts of Cornwall designated as a development district are localities in which a high rate of unemployment exists and is likely to persist. They are, therefore, appropriate for assistance under the terms of the Local Employment Bill. Conditions in other places in Devon are not such as to make them eligible.

97. Mr. P. Browne

asked the President of the Board of Trade, in view of the continuing high level of unemployment in areas subject to seasonal fluctuations because of the tourist trade, if he will reconsider his refusal to treat these areas on a basis other than that of a yearly average.

Mr. Maudling

The requirement laid down in the Bill is that high unemployment exists or is expected and is likely to persist whether seasonally or generally. The list that I have announced gives effect to this requirement and it includes a number of places where unemployment fluctuates seasonally.

107. Mr. Randall

asked the President of the Board of Trade why Gateshead was not included in the list of development areas under the terms of the Local Employment Bill.

Mr. Maudling

Gateshead is in the Tyneside South-West area, which is not on the initial list of development districts because, in the opinion of the Board of Trade, it is not a locality in which a persistently high rate of unemployment exists or is expected. This is the statutory requirement by which the Board of Trade will be bound.

108. Mr. Scott-Hopkins

asked the President of the Board of Trade why Bude has been left out of the list of development districts.

Mr. Maudling

The places in Cornwall included in the list of development districts are those in which a high rate of unemployment exists or is expected and is likely to persist. Bude, I am glad to say, is not such a place.

Mr. Ross

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will indicate in detail his method of assessing a high rate of unemployment in respect of his recently listed unemployment districts.

Mr. Maudling

I have to consider whether the unemployment is, or is expected to be, at a high rate and whether it is likely to persist generally or seasonally. I therefore look at the present rate of unemployment in each district in relation to the country as a whole, at the rates over the past year, and at the information I have about employment prospects over the next year or two.

Mr. Ross

asked the President of the Board of Trade which districts in Scotland formerly included in the development areas have not been listed as eligible for aid under the new Local Employment Bill.

Mr. Maudling

The Ministry of Labour employment exchange areas of Kilmarnock, Newmilns, Stewarton, Lanark and Lesmahagow which were scheduled as Development Areas are not listed as development districts. In addition, those parts of the employment exchange areas of Falkirk and Linlithgow which were formerly scheduled are not being listed under the Local Employment Bill.