§ Mr. Humeasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) if he will make a statement on the group set up to assist employment prospects in the Carrickfergus area, giving details of its composition, brief, resources and any undertakings given by Her Majesty's Government in respect of requests or recommendations made by this group;
(2) if he will make a statement on the work to date of the special task force established to help employment prospects in the East Antrim area;
(3) if he will give consideration to appointing further task forces to assist the needs of areas with long standing problems of high unemployment.
§ Dr. BoysonI have set up a working group, composed of officials of the Department of Economic Development, the Industrial Development Board and the local enterprise development unit, to examine ways of alleviating the effects of the redundancies caused by the impending closure of the Rothmans factory at Carrickfergus. The group reports to me on a regular basis. As a result of its work, on the spot information about job vacancies is being provided and individual counselling is being provided to those who request it. The Department of Economic Development is also co-operating with Rothmans, LEDU and Enterprise Carrick to provide information and guidance on the scope for the establishment of small enterprises in the area. Last week I announced an increase from 45 per cent. to 50 per cent. in the rate of industrial development grant available in the Carrickfergus area.
I shall certainly consider setting up such special groups again where large scale redundancies occur.