HC Deb 13 May 1966 vol 728 cc145-8W
Mr. MacArthur

asked the Minister of Labour what estimate he has made of the number of pensioners, part-time workers, and other employees in the service industries in Scotland who will lose their jobs following the introduction of the proposed Selective Employment Tax.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

None, since the information on which any estimate of this kind could be based is not available.

Mr. MacArthur

asked the Minister of Labour what estimate he has made of the extra unemployment in the service industries within the Perth and Blairgowrie Employment Exchange areas which will result from the proposed Selective Employment Tax; and how many unfilled vacancies exist in manufacturing industries in these areas.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

The tax is expected to give a positive encouragement to employment in manufacturing industries; it is not intended to increase unemployment. On 13th April, 1966, there were 62 unfilled vacancies in the manufacturing industries in the Perth and Blairgowrie Employment Exchange areas.

Mr. Ridley

asked the Minister of Labour what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of administering the Selective Employment Tax; and what extra staff he expects to employ.

Mr. Burden

asked the Minister of Labour how many additional civil servants will be necessary to operate the Selective Employment Tax in view of the need for checking the claims for rebate where firms act as manufacturing wholesalers, and, in addition to wholesaling their own products, buy in and merchant the products of other manufacturers.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

I would refer the hon. Members to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Oswestry (Mr. Biffen) on 9th May, 1966.

Mr. Clegg

asked the Minister of Labour how many people he expects to lose their jobs in the service industries as a result of the Selective Employment Tax, especially in North Fylde; and what extra retraining facilities he is setting up to deal with the retraining of persons so unemployed.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

The tax is expected to give a positive encouragement to employment in manufacturing industries; it is not intended to increase unemployment. I have no proposals at present in mind for a further expansion of Government Training Centres beyond those I have already announced.

Mr. Burden

asked the Minister of Labour (1) whether men's and women's retail manufacturing tailors are to be treated as manufacturers for purposes of the Selective Employment Tax;

(2) whether manufacturing wholesalers are to be classified as manufacturers for the purposes of the Selective Employment Tax, or if they will qualify as such only for those employees actually engaged in manufacturing;

(3) whether manufacturers who act as agents and/or distributors for other manufacturers are to be treated entirely as manufacturers, or if the rebate paid to them will apply only to that part of their staffs employed only in manufacture; and how he intends to arrive at the total number of employees engaged in each category.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

I cannot add at this stage to the information given in the White Paper on the Selective Employment Tax (Cmd. 2986). Further information about the application of the tax will be made available as soon as possible.

Mr. Burden

asked the Minister of Labour in what category for the purposes of the Selective Employment Tax the staffs of Her Majesty's Dockyards engaged entirely on repair and refit work are to be classified.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

Staffs of Her Majesty's Dockyards are classified to the Department in which they are employed. The Department concerned with repair and mechanical and electrical refit is classified under the Standard Industrial Classification to minimum list heading 370 in Order VII (Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering).

Mr. Clegg

asked the Minister of Labour how many vacancies for full-time employment there are at present in North Fylde in the manufacturing industries as defined in the White Paper on the Selective Employment Tax; and whether these are for skilled, unskilled or semiskilled labour.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

In the area covered by the Fleetwood and Thornton Cleveleys Employment Exchanges at 14th April, 1966, 122 notified vacancies remained unfilled for Orders III to XVI of the Standard Industrial Classification (1958).

The Department's industrial analysis of notified vacancies remaining unfilled is not further analysed either by occupation or category of skill. The figures do not distinguish between full-time and part-time.