§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many of the assisted areas in the new regional policy have a higher rate of deprivation than Stoke-on-Trent; and if he will tabulate in the Official Report which elements of deprivation are involved.
§ Mr. TrippierEvery assisted area under the map introduced on 29 November has a greater need for employment opportunities than the Stoke travel-to-work area. In assessing areas' relative need for current and future employment opportunities, our main criterion was annual average unemployment. Of the new AAs, only
'000 tonnes per year Reductions Capacity 1980 Minimum Required Identified Closures actually carried out by 31 December 1984 West Germany 53,117 *6,101 †6,922 6,295 Belgium 16,028 3,155 ‡3,183 3,182 Denmark 941 66 66 66 France 26,869 5,311 5,311 3,631 Italy 36,294 5,834 3,860 3,494 Luxembourg 5,215 960 1,045 1,045 Netherlands 7,297 950 1,432 82 United Kingdom 22,840 4,500 4,229 4,104 168,601 26,786 26,048 21,900 * Not including Klöckner † Including Klöckner ‡ Including 250,000 tonnes of capacity transferred from Luxembourg. The Government will continue to monitor other countries' progress in carrying out their restructuring plans and will keep up pressure to ensure that they fulfil their obligations.
244WDunfermline had lower annual average unemployment than Stoke. Other criteria included long-term unemployment, growth in labour supply, industrial and occupational structures, and economic activity rates. We also took account of the relative position of neighbouring areas.