§ Mr. Juddasked the Minister of State for Defence whether he will make a statement on the 120 redundancies announced for certain trades in Portsmouth Dockyard, with particular reference to settlement, retraining and reabsorption of the men concerned.
§ Mr. KirkThe policy of reducing the labour force in the Royal Dockyards by natural wastage has resulted in an imbalance of skills which must be corrected if the modern Navy is to be efficiently
130Wland in 1969–70 compared with England, Wales and Scotland was:
£ Northern Ireland. 1,596 England 2,206 Wales 1,419 Scotland 2,052 More details are published in Table 16 of the 1971 Annual Review White Paper (Cmnd. 4623).
§ Mr. Molyneauxasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what were the average real weekly earnings of agricultural workers in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, respectively, during the latest 12 months for which figures are available; and how these compare with the agreed minimum wages.
§ Mr. Anthony StodartThe latest available figures of earnings and minimum wages of all whole time adult male workers in agriculture (including horticulture) are as follows:
maintained. At Portsmouth this results in surpluses of some 120 men and every effort is being made to absorb them in other shortage trades and grades.
However, because such measures may not solve the problem completely, the general manager has declared a formal redundancy in the trades and grades concerned so that the entitlement of individuals to the new compensation terms on redundancy can be safeguarded. It is emphasised that this exercise is aimed at balancing the skills required to meet future requirements, that it does not indicate overall reductions in excess of those stated in the 1969 Defence White Paper 131W and that every endeavour will be made to avoid or otherwise minimise any enforced redundancy.