Oral Answers to Questions — Industry, Trade and Regional Development – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 19 Mawrth 1964.
Mr Hector Hughes
, Aberdeen North
12:00,
19 Mawrth 1964
asked the Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development if he will make a statement on the result of his request to firms in North-East Scotland to complete a census of production to be completed and returned by 31st March; and how such production in those areas compares with similar production in each of the preceding 10 years.
Mr Edward Heath
, Bexley
It will be several months before enough 1963 census of production returns are received for results to be compiled. Full censuses of this kind are taken only once in five years, and separate figures for regions like North-East Scotland are not normally extracted. Employment figures show, in general, little change over the last 10 years.
Mr Hector Hughes
, Aberdeen North
How do the Government propose to use the figures collected in this way? Is it a last-minute attempt to solve the problems of industrial unemployment in Scotland, after 12 years of failure?
Mr Edward Heath
, Bexley
No, Sir. The first census was taken in 1907.
Mr Michael Hutchison
, Edinburgh South
May I ask my right hon. Friend to what extent he considers that trade in the North-East will be damaged by the Socialist-controlled Town Council of Aberdeen's boycott of south African products?
Mr Edward Heath
, Bexley
It is a point to which my hon. Friend has drawn public attention.
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.
