Oral Answers to Questions — Wales – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 1 March 1993.
Mr Win Griffiths
, Bridgend
12:00,
1 March 1993
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the difference between the number of men and the number of women in full-time employment in Wales and Mid Glamorgan currently and in June 1979.
Mr Gwilym Jones
, Cardiff North
Figures are not available separately for Mid Glamorgan. The proportion of the male work force in civilian employment or training was 7 per cent. greater in 1979 than 1992. The corresponding figure for women, including part-time employees, was the same for both years.
Mr Win Griffiths
, Bridgend
Even given the paucity of his figures, I hope that the Minister will admit that the reduction that they show proves that there is still a real crisis in employment in Wales. I hope that he will make two commitments this afternoon: first, that no part of Wales should lose its assisted area status in the current review. In its press releases the Welsh Office trumpets the value of that assistance to industry in Wales from time to time. Secondly, will the hon. Gentleman call in the banks in Wales and get them to review their policy towards small businesses? The policy of the banks—there have been a number of complaints against Lloyds in particular—is causing a large number of small businesses to go into liquidation quite unnecessarily. Will he give those commitments now?
Mr Gwilym Jones
, Cardiff North
I assure the hon. Gentleman that both matters are under active consideration. Many Ministers have been involved in discussions with the banks.
The assisted area review is being conducted by my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade, who is keeping in very close touch with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales. The hon. Gentleman should not adopt such a negative attitude to unemployment in Wales. It is too high—it is unacceptably high—but it behoves the hon. Gentleman to recognise that since the last time unemployment peaked, in 1985, male unemployment has risen by less than half the rate of United Kingdom unemployment and female employment has risen by about four times the rate in the rest of the United Kingdom.
Mr Rhodri Morgan
, Cardiff West
As the Secretary of State seems to want to run away from answering questions on the economy today, may I tell him that I am in the rather fortunate position of having not only a daffodil but a leek—a leak from the Conservative research department, in the form of its briefing for today's debate? The Secretary of State and his ministerial colleagues will never grasp the seriousness of unemployment in Wales while they rely on the garbage written by the Conservative research department. The document trumpets the major inward investment successes of 1992, yet the first three listed, General Electric at Nantgarw, Ford at Bridgend and Texaco at Pembroke, do not produce an additional job between them—
Miss Betty Boothroyd
Speaker of the House of Commons
Order. This is Question Time; we have an Adjournment Debate on the whole subject of Wales later. I ask the hon. Gentleman to put his question now.
Mr Rhodri Morgan
, Cardiff West
I have done.
Mr Gwilym Jones
, Cardiff North
The hon. Gentleman plainly shows that he has no question to ask. Once again, he chooses to ignore the realities of life in Wales, especially during the recession. Wales has been demonstrating the fundamental strength of its economy by the way in which it has been fighting back. Unemployment is now below the national average for the first time in 70 years. It is 0·3 per cent. lower; when we went into recession, it was 0·8 per cent. higher than the national average.
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.
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.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
An adjournment debate is a short half hour debate that is introduced by a backbencher at the end of each day's business in the House of Commons.
Adjournment debates are also held in the side chamber of Westminster Hall.
This technical procedure of debating a motion that the House should adjourn gives backbench members the opportunity to discuss issues of concern to them, and to have a minister respond to the points they raise.
The speaker holds a weekly ballot in order to decide which backbench members will get to choose the subject for each daily debate.
Backbenchers normally use this as an opportunity to debate issues related to their constituency.
An all-day adjournment debate is normally held on the final day before each parliamentary recess begins. On these occasions MPs do not have to give advance notice of the subjects which they intend to raise.
The leader of the House replies at the end of the debate to all of the issues raised.
