asked the Minister of Labour what plans he has to find employment for redundant railway workers in Scotland.

Arrangements are already being made at both local and regional level to make the full facilities of my Department available in advance of redundancy to all railway workers who seek our help.

I regard that as a very poor statement, because the facilities of the right hon. Gentleman's Department may continue to be made available but we are still not getting the additional jobs Scotland needs. Will the Minister get down to the problem of framing a blueprint of phased employment development to ensure that railway workers who become redundant in Scotland, and particularly in Airdrie, will find jobs available for them and not pie in the sky?

As I have already said, it is the object of Her Majesty's Government to provide more employment in Scotland. I hope that the hon. Gentleman is not trying to decry the work done by my Department, all of whose members are doing their very best in very difficult circumstances to look after people. As to the hon. Gentleman's general thesis, he will know that if the plan is implemented the reduction would be about 5,000 jobs. The anticipated wastage during this period is about 4,800 jobs. I cannot tell more precisely, nor can anyone else, what the actual redundancy is likely to be until these individual closure proposals are investigated by the Transport Users' Consultative Committee.