§ 70. Mr. Ieuan Wyn JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what measures are being undertaken by his Department to ensure a reduction of unemployment in rural areas with higher than average levels of unemployment.
§ Mr. LeeMy Department is playing its part with other interested Departments to foster improvements in the economy of rural areas. In particular, we are providing active encouragement and support to enterprise, through our support for local enterprise agencies, tourism, and small businesses, which we are aiding through our small firms service and a range of marketing improvement services. In addition, the full range of our employment, enterprise and training measures are available to help unemployed people in all rural areas.
There are clear signs that those policies are helping to reduce unemployment in all rural areas. Estimates of unemployment in rural areas produced for the Development Commission for Rural England show that in the year to January 1988 unemployment fell in all the commission's priority rural development areas. Some of the largest falls occurred in rural areas with the highest unemployment rates. The average unemployment rate of all rural development areas was 8.6 per cent. in January 1988, compared with an average for the United Kingdom of 9.8 per cent. at that time.