§ Mr. Oswaldasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what were the numbers 421W of self-employed weavers in each of the islands of the Outer Hebrides for each of the last 10 years and at the latest available date.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellAnnual figures are not available, and the figures that are available do not distinguish self-employed weavers from other weavers. Figures derived from the 1966 sample census are given in the table below for the number of weavers and the number of self-employed persons without employees in each administrative subdivision of the Outer Hebrides. 1971 Census figures should be available in about one year's time.
NUMBER OF WEAVERS AND NUMBER OF SELF-EMPLOYED PERSONS WITHOUT EMPLOYEES, OUTER HEBRIDES, CENSUS 1966✶ Weavers Self-employed persons without employees Stornoway Small Burgh 70 140 Lewis District of County 1,130 1,050 Harris — 120 North Uist 20 220 South Uist — 220 Barra — 20 ✶ Derived from 10 per cent. sample.
§ Mr. Maclennanasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide training facilities for Harris tweed weavers in the operation of double width looms.
§ Mr. Chichester-ClarkI have been asked to reply.
Training approved by the Wool, Jute and Flax Industry Training Board for Harris tweed weavers and based on single width looms is provided by the Lewis Castle Technical College at Stornoway.
I understand that a suitable double width loom for Harris tweed weaving is still in the course of development, and that a delegation from Harris which recently inspected the prototype considered that, while the design of the machine was excellent, it was at present too heavy for constant manual operation, and too slow.