Wales (Economy and Employment)

Part of Orders of the Day — Supply – in the House of Commons at 9:33 pm on 6 May 1982.

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Photo of Mr Michael Roberts Mr Michael Roberts , Cardiff North West 9:33, 6 May 1982

I apologise to the right hon. Gentleman, but I have already given way to his hon. Friend the Member for Merthyr Tydfil and I have only 12 minutes Left in which to make some important points.

I had hoped to have time to mention achievement in our secondary schools, but I shall not be able to develop that theme. The hon. Member for Neath said that it was not much of a transition to go straight from school to the dole queue. I recognise that, but our schools can do a great deal if they take full advantage of the available facilities to give school leavers better opportunities to acquire skills. Perhaps some pupils do not take advantage of those facilities or are not given all the opportunities that they deserve. Within the existing resources we could do much more, but perhaps we can develop that theme in the Welsh Grand Committee.

The Government are taking other initiatives. First, there is the urban programme. For 1982–83, the Secretary of State has approved urban programme resources for Wales of £15,294,000—over 30 per cent. more than originally planned—and the additional premium has been allocated mainly to new schemes associated with economic regeneration and job creation.

As part of the programme for 1982–83, over £8 million has been allocated for new nursery factory units, workshops, and other job-creating schemes providing 3,500 job opportunities, and £2·4 million for new environmental improvement projects and schemes to alleviate social problems. The programme is widespread in the Principality.

I had hoped to be able to refer to some of the details of the programme, but I have time to refer to only one, which is a modest but nevertheless welcome scheme. I am happy to announce that my right hon. Friend has approved for grant aid all the 1982 summer holiday projects put to him by local authorities under the urban programme.

There are 211 projects, costing £205,000, of which 75 will be run by voluntary organisations. Together with the £45,000 announced earlier this year for Easter schemes, the holiday programme in Wales this year will be by far the largest ever undertaken as part of the programme. That is a good use of money, because it brings in local authorities and voluntary workers and provides holidays for many children who would not otherwise have them.

A second Government initiative is the enterprise zones. I am glad that the early experiences of zone authorities in Swansea and elsewhere are encouraging. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil keeps interrupting from a sedentary position. Clearly he does not approve of the scheme, and I wish that he would appreciate reasonably good news.

It is too early to draw firm conclusions about the impact of designations in areas that are dissimilar and where projects were designed to be experimental. Nevertheless, the Swansea zone has already attracted 34 firms since designation and there have been 375 inquiries. More than a quarter of the inquiries were from outside Wales and eight new ventures have occupied, or expressed commitment to, the zone since designation. That is encouraging for the future and I shall continue to keep in close touch with the city council to ensure that the early progress is maintained.

Thirdly, there is the enterprise allowance scheme, which was devised to examine the scope for overcoming the alleged deterrent effect of the loss of benefit on unemployed people thinking of setting up their own business. The scheme provides for the payment of an "enterprise allowance"—£40 per week taxable—for up to 52 weeks to unemployed people who set up their own business and are employed full time in it. One such scheme is operating in Wales covering Wrexham Maelor, Alyn and Deeside and Delyn in Clwyd.

The Clwyd scheme opened for applications on 1 April 1982. At the end of April 110 applications had been received with 55 accepted and 34 still in the pipeline, but likely to be approved.

A number of hon. Members referred to the EEC. It is vital to make correct judgments whenever we talk about employment in Wales and in the United Kingdom in relation to our membership of the EEC.