HC Deb 28 July 1988 vol 138 cc464-5W
Mr. Tom Clarke

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if his Department is now in a person to assess the economic impact on central Scotland of the closure of the Gartcosh steel strip mill.

Mr. Lang

[holding answer 25 July 1988]: Comprehensive information on the economic consequences for central Scotland of the closure of the Gartcosh cold rolling mill is not available and could not be derived from regularly available statistical sources. However, I note with satisfaction that over the period June 1987 to June 1988 the numbers of unemployed in Lanarkshire fell by over 5,000. This amounted to a drop in the unemployment rate of more than three percentage points, which is even more substantial than the decline for Scotland as a whole.