Coal Industry (Hansard, 20 October 1992)

§ Mr. David Hunt

I recognise that the closures of Betws and Taff Merthyr will have a severe impact on the local economies affected and I am determined that the maximum possible help will be made available to the individuals and communities involved.

The Government have already announced a comprehensive range of services for those affected by the closures, covering in particular their counselling and 283W retraining needs and the assistance they will need to find secure new employment. The training and enterprise councils have a key role to play here.

I have already met the chairmen of the West Wales and Mid Glamorgan TECs and asked them to let me have within two weeks action plans covering all unemployed people in the closure areas and any redundant miners who live outside them. I expect the action plans to address not only the labour market issues but also, in conjunction with the Welsh Development Agency, proposals for business development and the creation of new jobs.

Although the Government have announced a moratorium on the proposed closure of Point of Ayr, I have met the chairman of the North East Wales TEC and asked his TEC to prepare a contingency plan for that area.

To assist implementation of these plans, I have arranged for up to £4.8 million for employment and training measures to be made available over the next 18 months.

I am also concerned to tackle the regeneration of the areas affected and secure their economic, social and environmental development. In particular: I am making a special allocation of £2.5 million in 1992–93 under the urban programme and I am inviting the local authorities to let me have urgent proposals on how these funds can most effectively be used;

European funding has an important contribution to make. I hope shortly to announce agreement to 80 projects including European Regional development fund grants of over £15 million in the areas affected. In addition, a further £2.8 million is available under the ERDF and, in the light of recent decisions, I shall be exploring with local authorities and other partners how these funds can best be deployed.

In Wales we have the Welsh Development Agency which, with its record budget of £167 million, is already heavily engaged in these areas.

I have discussed with the chairman of the agency its plans taking account of current developments. Overall decisions on the future budget of the WDA have still to be taken as part of the public expenditure round, but I can announce now that the WDA will be spending £33 million over the next 18 months on a range of measures which will assist economic development in the areas concerned. This will include about £16 million on land reclamation and urban property development, and nearly £5 million on business support services and £10 million on urban renewal joint venture schemes.