§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what consultations he has had with the Cuban state shipping line, Mambisa on possible orders for NESL shipyards, the timing of the orders and the possibility of intervention funding.
§ Mr. NewtonMy predecessor made clear to the House on 21 July that DTI officials had established that Empressa Navigacion Mambisa had authority to purchase a series of general cargo ships. My Department has since kept in touch with Mambisa both directly and through its financial advisers in London. Mambisa has been advised that intervention fund support would be considered for any order taken by North East Shipbuilders Ltd., provided the yard had at that time been returned to the private sector. Mambisa has not set any firm deadline for an order to be placed but has said it would like to receive an early letter of intent.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what is his estimate of(a) the number of jobs dependent on the NESL shipbulding yards both directly and indirectly and (b) the spending power granted by the yards and its contract and its demand for services.
§ Mr. NewtonThe number of jobs dependent on the NESL shipbuilding yards, both directly and indirectly, depends on the extent to which the yards are able to build ships at a price, to a time scale and of a standard which enables them to compete with other yards, particularly overseas. At present, although British Shipbulders still employs some 2,000 people at NESL, 600 are now laid off out of a total of 1,000 impending lay-offs announced in August. The number of jobs that depend indirectly on the BS yards has been reduced because the ferry programme has collapsed.
The weekly gross wage bill is presently around £400,000. The overall value of contracts and services to the yard has also been adversely affected by the state of the ferry programme.