HC Deb 30 January 1984 vol 53 cc49-50W
Dr. Godman

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the numbers of redundancies which would result among subcontractors and those supplying goods and services to Scott Lithgow, in the event of closure of that firm.

Mr. Allan Stewart

Specific information relating to individual contracts and the stage each of these has reached is not available. However general information on linkages between the United Kingdom shipbuilding industry and suppliers suggests that total closure of a yard with the current employment of Scott Lithgow could result in losses of the order of 3,000 jobs in suppliers in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Godman

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the increase in the percentage level of unemployment in the travel-to-work areas of Greenock and Port Glasgow in the event of (a) 1,400 and (b) 4,000 redundancies at Scott Lithgow.

Mr. Allan Stewart

On the assumption that all of the redundancies result in unemployed persons claiming benefit, then it is estimated that the direct short run effect would be to increase the unemployment rate in the Greenock/Port Glasgow TTWA by around three percentage points under case(a) or by around eight percentage points under case (b).