§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proposals she has to assist aerospace businesses and their employees made redundant since 11 September 2001. [60179]
§ Alan JohnsonThe DTI is supporting the aerospace industry by investing nearly £1 billion in product development by Rolls-Royce and Airbus, by providing funding for a long-term research effort in aerospace and by supporting competitiveness improvement activities throughout the supply chain.
Substantial funds have been made available by the DFES for use by the jobcentre plus rapid response service job focused training to assist those made redundant to take up retraining opportunities and thus remain skilled and able to re-enter the labour market.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many jobs have been lost in aerospace since 11 September 2001, broken down by constituency; and when she plans to visit those constituencies. [60180]
§ Alan JohnsonThe latest estimate is that there have been approximately 14,000 direct job losses in the aerospace industry since 11 September 2001. A breakdown of this figure is given in the table by company and as far as possible by location but not by constituency as these data are not available.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has been in contact with the industry's representatives but is not planning any constituency visits dealing solely with job losses.
997W
UK aerospace job losses since 11 September 2002 Company Job losses Anticipated job losses Location BAE Systems 800 — Brough, Humberside 993 — Woodford, Cheshire — 454 (At risk) — 220 (Voluntary redundancy) Centrax 250 — Newton Abbot, SW England DPS Composites Aerospace 50 — Pembroke Dock, Wales FLS Aerospace 620 — Manchester GE Aero Engines 170 — Natgarw, South Wales GE Caledonian 350 — Prestwick Hamble Aerostructures 95 — Southampton, SE England Rolls Royce 1,900 — Derby 450 — Glasgow 450 — Bristol 1,000 — Other 1,000 — Temporary staff Shorts/Bombardier 2,000 — Belfast, Northern Ireland Smiths 1,200 — Not Known Thales Defence Ltd. 470 — Bracknell Trefn 123 — Llay, Wales TRW Aeronautical Systems 370 — Not Known Total losses 13,459 674
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether she will seek the co-operation of other European Ministers to establish a co-ordinated programme of assistance for areas suffering the aerospace downturn. [60181]
§ Alan JohnsonThe DTI is co-operating with our European partners on a wide number of aerospace issues designed to ensure the long term prosperity of the industry. However, we consider that the areas affected by the recent downturn are best helped by continuing a sound macro-economic policy and by assisting those made redundant to re-skill themselves.