§ Mr. Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Industry what estimate he has of the number of jobs that will be lost in the Scottish steel industry during the years 1976 and 1977.
§ Mr. Les HuckfieldThe corporation has advised me that, subject to the discussions taking place with the unions concerned, the first stage of the corporation's current de-manning exercise will result in a net loss of some 2,200 job opportunities in Scotland over the next two years. The corporation is, however, continuously revising its operations with a view to ensuring that they are run in accordance with international standards of operational practice and manning. So far as I am aware there are unlikely to be any significant redundancies in the near future in the private sector of the steel industry in Scotland.
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§ Mr. Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Industry what has been the job loss in the Scottish steel industry due to (a) redundancy and (b) natural wastage during the period of the last three years.
§ Mr. Les HuckfieldFigures for natural wastage are not available. In British Steel Corporation plants there were 1,760 redundancies and 1,200 net job losses between March 1973 and March 1976. New employment arose from plant commissioned during the period. In the private sector there were about 300 redundancies.