Mr. H. Wilsonasked the Minister of Labour if he will state in respect of the Lancashire and Cheshire sides, respectively, of the Merseyside Development Area, as defined in the 1949 Merseyside Development Area Order, the number of factories reported to him as closing down, other than Royal Ordnance Factories, in the following periods, namely, January, 1946, to the making of the 1949 Merseyside Development Area Order, from the making of the 1949 Merseyside Development Area Order to April, 1960, from April, 1960, to July, 1960, and from July, 1960, to the present time.
§ Mr. HareThis information, which is derived from reports received from employment exchanges and is not necessarily comprehensive in respect of smaller firms, is available only from June, 1952. Their reports indicate that between June, 1952, and the end of March, 1960, 26 factories closed on the Lancashire side of the Merseyside Development Area and 9 on the Cheshire side, and that corresponding figures for the periods April to July, 1960, and July, 1960, up to the present time are: 3 and nil, and 14 and 2, respectively.