HC Deb 30 November 1987 vol 123 cc421-2W
14. Mr. Butler

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effects of the national dock labour scheme on the growth of business in ports of the United Kingdom.

Mr. David Mitchell

Since 1967, when the present dock labour scheme was introduced, scheme ports' share of Britain's non-fuel traffic has fallen from 92 per cent, to 70 per cent. It is impossible to gauge the extent to which the scheme contributed to this relative decline.