HC Deb 04 February 1972 vol 830 cc211-2W
Mr. Laurance Reed

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment he has made of the unemployment situation in Bolton as a result of his recent visit; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. R. Carr

The visit to Bolton was very useful because it gave me a much deeper understanding of the nature of the area's unemployment problem. But Bolton also brought into sharp focus the overall problem of unemployment in Britain. The area is suffering from the consequences of a long period of disappointingly slow growth, with the result that the new industrial and commercial activity being created over this period has been insufficient to take up the decline in other industries—such as textiles, in

Mr. Dudley Smith

Following is the information:

Notified vacancies remaining unfilled at January, 1972 per hundred employees in employment and per hundred people registered as wholly unemployed.

the case of Bolton. I am confident, however, that the massive measures taken by the Government to stimulate demand and create jobs will bring down unemployment in Bolton and elsewhere from its currently unacceptable level.