§ Mr. Moonmanasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the unemployment levels in the new towns within the London ring.
Travel-to-Work Area (New Town) Total unemployed Unemployment rate (per cent.) Southend-on-Sea (Basildon) … … … … 12,804 6.6 Crawley … … … … 3,999 2.5 Harlow … … … … 2,762 3.8 Reading (Bracknell) … … … … 5,088 3.1 St. Albans (Hatfield and Welwyn) … … … … 2,055 2.3 Watford (Hemel Hempstead) … … … … 3,249 2.6 Stevenage (Employment Office Area) … … … … 1,659 4.3 Unemployment percentages in new towns tend to reflect the regional and sub-regional area rates. With the exception of Basildon, the news towns of the London periphery have figures which compare favourably with regional and national rates.
The Government recognise that whilst the latest figures represent a welcome improvement on those a year earlier, the level of unemployment of 6.6 per cent. in the Southend-on-Sea travel-to-work area, which includes Basildon, is far too high.
The special employment measures introduced by my Department have so far helped over 1,000 people in Basildon and have been further strengthened by the extension of the small firms employment subsidy from the new year. A permanent improvement in the unemployment rate of the Southend area, including Basildon, depends upon measures to keep down inflation, improve the competitiveness of British industry and to bring about an increase in world trade.