HC Deb 28 November 1984 vol 68 cc514-5W
Mr. Spearing

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will tabulate in the Official Report the distribution of 4,000 jobs created within the area of the London Docklands Development Corporation, as stated by the Minister for Housing and Construction on 20 November, showing the jobs lost, jobs created and jobs transferred into the area of the enterprise zone on the Isle of Dogs, and the remaining parts of the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Southwark and Newham, respectively, together with their respective totals.

Sir George Young

The distribution of new jobs, that is jobs which had not existed in Docklands at the time the LDDC was established in July 1981, is as follows:

Number
Enterprise Zone * 1,302
Rest of Tower Hamlets 1,629
Newham 1,008
Southwark 131
* All in Tower Hamlets

In addition, 59 jobs have been created as a result of LDDC funding of community project giving a total of 4,129. The corporation estimates that at least another 1,500 people are engaged in construction work in the area.

No comprehensive information is available on which of these jobs have been transferred from elsewhere although, as I told the hon. Member for Bow and Poplar (Mr. Mikardo) in an answer I gave on 26 October at column 747 a survey of the enterprise zone covering the period June 1982—May 1983 found that of 67 incoming firms 37 were new, 10 had come from elsewhere in Greater London and 1 from outside Greater London. The origin of the remaining 19 were unknown.

The number of notified redundancies in Docklands in the period July 1981 to March 1984 was 1,739. A breakdown of this figure on a geographical basis could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.