§ Mr. Strawasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list in the Official Report the average numbers of (a) persons employed (b) persons made redundant from employment, and (c) persons onshort-time, in the Lancashire textile industry in each of the years 1969 to 1979, inclusive.
§ Mr. Jim LesterI regret the information is not available in the precise form requested.
(a) The number of persons employed nationally in the Lancashire textile industry—defined as the sector covered by minimum list headings 412 and 413 of the standard industrial classification—in June of each year from 1969 to 1979 inclusive was as follows:
Year Employees (000's) 1969 141.0 1970 137.0 1971 125.4 1972 112.5 1973 110.5 1974 106.6 1975 96.5 1976 91.3 *1977 90.5 *1978 84.1 *1979 80.2 * Figures are provisional (b) The Manpower Services Commission has informed me that according to its records the total number of workers involved in actual redundancies of 10 or more in the Lancashire textile industry 23W in each of years 1969 to 1979 was as follows:
Year Redundancies 1969 3,193 1970 4,880 1971 11,526 1972 5,430 1973 1,984 1974 1,290 1975 4,725 1976 3,666 1977 2,487 1978 3,690 1979 5,110 There is no statutory obligation on employers to notify actual redundancies and these figures are not therefore a comprehensive record of all redundancies which have occurred.
(c) Statistics on short-time working are collected in respect of one week in each month. The following table gives the average number of operatives on short-time in the Lancashire textile industry for those 12 weeks each year for the years 1969 to 1979.
Year Operatives (000's) 1969 0.3 1970 1.1 1971 4.3 1972 1.0 1973 0.1 1974 1.9 1975 4.6 1976 1.3 1977 0.8 1978 0.6 1979 1.3
§ Mr. Strawasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what estimate he makes of the effect upon employment in the Lancashire textile industry following the ending of the short-time working compensation scheme;
(2) what plans he has for assisting the Lancashire textile industry once the short-time working compensation scheme has ended; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Jim LesterThe temporary short-time working compensation scheme is open for applications up to 31 March 1980. A decision about the future of the scheme will be made as part of theannual review of the special employment and training measures, which has not yet been completed. My right hon. Friend hopes to make an announcement about the scheme very shortly.