Oral Answers to Questions — Employment – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 24 July 1990.
Mr Alan Amos
, Hexham
12:00,
24 July 1990
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the unemployment figures for the Hexham Constituency for May.
Mr. Jackson:
In May 1990, in the parliamentary Constituency of Hexham, unemployment was 19·4 per cent. lower than a year ago.
Mr Alan Amos
, Hexham
Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government policies that have reduced unemployment in my Constituency by more than half since June 1987 contrast strongly with the policies of the Labour party, which deliberately seek to undersell the region on every possible occasion by spreading doom and gloom, which simply is not true?
Mr. Jackson:
I can confirm what my hon. Friend says. Unemployment in Hexham has fallen by 59·8 per cent. since 1986. I visited the north-east frequently in my former capacity at the Department of Education and Science and saw the work done by its higher and further education institutions, and I look forward to visiting the training and enterprise councils that are being established so effectively in the area. Much good work is being done, which is reflected in the figures.
Stuart Bell
, Middlesbrough
As a former candidate in Hexham, may I ask the Minister to give the House the exact numbers, not percentages, of unemployed people in Hexham?
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
