§ Sir C. Osborneasked the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs what are the plans to give effect to the undertaking given regarding full employment of coal-miners, whose number, as the official estimate shows, will be reduced from 387,000 to 65,000.
Mr. Alan WilliamsIn pursuing its full employment policy, the Government will continue to encourage industrial expansion in certain regions and areas and to operate necessary controls elsewhere. These measures recently augmented by additional measures in the special areas, should bring the necessary employment opportunities for miners made redundant over the coming years by colliery closures. However, redundancies on the scale mentioned in the Question involve projections up to 1980 and are highly speculative.