§ Mr. George Grantasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many new jobs in the Northern Region can be directly attributed to the development of North Sea oil and gas;
(2) what is the estimated number of jobs that are expected to come to the Northern Region arising from the development of North Sea oil and gas by. 1977.
§ Mr. John Fraser:It is estimated that at 28th February 1975 there were about 6,700 jobs in the Northern Region wholly-related to North Sea oil and gas projects; the estimate of additional jobs likely to arise over the next two years is 3,000. These figures do not include jobs in the construction industry nor in all those firms supplying goods and services to the offshore oil and gas industry.