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Mr. William Ross (East Londonderry): Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the best features of the telecommunications and computer industries is the fact that they employ many new graduates? For far too long, we have exported our best graduates and our best brains and now, for the first time in many years, many of them are able to find jobs at home. That can only be good for Northern Ireland in the long term.
Mr. Walker: I thank my hon. Friend for those remarks. He is absolutely right about graduates, but other training programmes are training people who are less well educated for work in the telecommunications industry. Those programmes are off the ground in Belfast and they are working well.
Belfast city council, with support from BT, has lent its support to two major training initiatives--we call them EDITRAIN initiatives--in west and in east Belfast,
which are areas of very high unemployment. Anticipating an increased demand for skilled operators in that field--this is relevant to my hon. Friend's earlier remarks about training--the council has approved a procedure whereby individuals receive training up to national vocational qualification standard level 4. That enables them to install and to supervise the smooth running of network information systems as an integral part of a larger corporate team. There are several and substantial markets for such specialist graduates as most companies, large and small, require their services and expertise. Almost all the major banks and insurance companies are part of extensive network systems, which are usually headquartered in London.
Belfast is an information city that has transformed its past into a strategy for the future. That strategy has given its citizens a clear sense of continuity, a coherent set of objectives and a growing confidence in the common goal of a better life for us all. For the business man and woman, the promotion and implementation of the strategy in the form of specialised training, consultative bodies and a climate of information literacy and technological competence, represents new frontiers of economic opportunity. There is already a talented and motivated work force. Low-cost accommodation and telecommunications, combined with the development of both satellite and terrestrial broad-band services, will assist the economy dramatically.
One of Belfast's most striking features is the number and range of organisations that are active in the field of economic development. In the past 15 years, a complex network of agencies has developed across the statutory, community and private sectors. That reflects in part the changing economic climate and the change in Government policy that promoted enterprise as a means of tackling unemployment, while reflecting also the communities' desire to take some action to create work.
Within the statutory sector, the Department of Economic Development family--the Local Enterprise Development Unit, the Industrial Development Board and the Training and Employment Agency--has invested heavily in infrastructure, training and business support in order to promote a positive environment and to encourage business information and growth. Parallel with that, the Department of the Environment and its agents, the Belfast Development Office and Making Belfast Work, have invested heavily--with MBW particularly prominent through the efforts of the Belfast action team. Complementing that, development at community level is evident through the establishment of local and enterprise agencies, community employment regeneration schemes and development organisations. The International Fund for Ireland was a prime mover in that. Further activity is generated by organisations that are more closely aligned to the voluntary and community sector, where youth, women's enterprise and community economic development initiatives can readily be found.
A case in point was the recent conference held at the Balmoral conference centre and sponsored by the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action. More than 175 participants discussed economic and social regeneration involving local people. It was a positive, constructive and bridge-building exercise that was worthy
of support as it addressed specific employment problems, using the imaginative Donnison report, which will be published shortly, as an agenda for action.
Belfast continues to be the centre of economic activity for much of Northern Ireland. Although it has only 18 per cent. of the total population of the Province, it has 30 per cent. of Northern Ireland's manufacturing companies and 21 per cent. of its retail activity.
In the past decade, Belfast has enjoyed massive infrastructure investment that is estimated at approximately £800 million. Projects range from new housing to commercial offices and shopping arcades. Considerable capital has also gone into bolstering the internal and external transport infrastructure, which now ranks with the best in Europe. As I said, the road and rail networks in the Province meet the most advanced national and international standards, but the weak links are the west link junctions, which cause serious traffic and environmental pollution problems, particularly in respect of cross-border containers using Belfast harbour port.
Unemployment continues to be a major problem, and in some wards half the work force is out of a job. The problem is far worse among men, and in some neighbourhoods as many as six out of 10 are unemployed. Although unemployment in Belfast is not as severe as in other parts of the Province, it fares worse than most comparable cities in the United Kingdom. Despite a fall in the population of the city between 1981 and 1991, current trends reveal that the rising youth population entering the labour market is imposing further pressure on jobs.
Within the broad scheme of community economic development, the city council's emphasis clearly will be focused on promoting sustainable employment. At community level, that will be reflected in support for training, capacity building and the promotion of new models of economic activity and employment. In respect of priority groups, emphasis will be placed on programmes and initiatives that encourage and support enterprise and access to employment and improve employability.
Mr. Eddie McGrady (South Down):
The subject of today's debate is the report on the background and implications for Northern Ireland of the 1995 United Kingdom Budget. It is important to draw the attention of the House to the broad conclusions of that report which have not been mentioned so far this afternoon. The conclusion of part I of the report states, at paragraph 3.28:
The same theme is found in part II:
tackling social need--
The conclusions also indicate that, in Northern Ireland, the richest 10 per cent. of households will gain from the Budget, but that 50 per cent. of households will suffer losses. That may not have come across clearly this afternoon. I want to dwell, for a moment, on that deprivation.
The report's conclusions hide reality and additional deprivation--the deep disparities in areas of extremely long-term unemployment that have existed for not just one, but two, decades. Those areas have also been deprived for more than two decades of the infrastructure necessary to enable them to take advantage of any industrial revival that may occur as a result of inward investment.
Certain areas of Northern Ireland do exceptionally well; others continue to do exceptionally badly. If the Government have a genuine policy of targeting social need, they must address that problem. If there is a loss of 200 to 300 jobs in place A, an emergency team is sent there to see how the area can be revitalised and to attract new investment. In areas of endemic long-term unemployment, no such task force is contemplated. Perhaps it is thought, "They are used to it, so they will not gripe about it," or, "They do not deserve it."
The report also hides the concept of a low-wage economy, which we should not accept. The Northern Ireland economy should be based on maximum efficiency in which the producers of wealth--capital and labour--share equally in the benefits. It should not be low wages that attract inward investment, but a quality work force, quality management and a quality product. Northern Ireland does not want a far east economy that attracts European and north American investment simply to exploit low wages. There is a tendency to sell Northern Ireland as a low-wage economy. We should sell its other attractions, and the wage earner should share in the prosperity that results from inward investment.
The Minister spoke about the peace dividend. I am not qualified to follow the intricacies of the public accounts system, but there is some disappointment in the north of Ireland that the substantial savings made in respect of Northern Ireland's security requirements have not been funnelled into other areas of expenditure. If, as the Minister says, funds were channelled into other areas of expenditure--God help us! If there had been no peace dividend, our education and health systems would have collapsed around us. The Minister who is to reply to this debate knows that we are already running a £100 million deficit in what is called the educational estate--the fabric of the education system. If, as he suggests, money has gone into the system from the peace dividend, that implies that the deficit would have been much greater.
The Minister responsible for health and social services issued his public expenditure statement on 24 February last, claiming an increase of £54 million in his budget;
but he failed to take it into account that £42 million of that was already tied up in required additional expenditure under new legislation--especially that to do with child support and certain renal health requirements. He correctly stated that a 3 per cent. cut was wanted, of which 1.5 per cent. would come from cash and 1.5 per cent. from services. I can tell Ministers that those cuts in services are already being made, and will get worse as time passes.
The Economic Council report states that there is more ill health in Northern Ireland than elsewhere. If this 3 per cent. cut is to be implemented next year, and possibly the year after, there is no doubt in anyone's mind--from consultant to patient--that the system will collapse.
The problem of perception remains: either the peace dividend was not used or, if it was, budgets have been much more severely cut than has hitherto been admitted publicly.
Job creation and inward investment are essential factors in the equation. The Industrial Development Board and, to a lesser extent, the Local Enterprise Development Unit, have done a reasonable job. I have been one of their major critics in the past, not because they are not doing their job but because they do not distribute jobs fairly around Northern Ireland. We hear much in Northern Ireland about fair employment, but it would be better implemented if employment were also located more equitably. Between 1990 and 1995, 43 new enterprises were brought to Northern Ireland--according to the IDB. Sixteen district councils benefited from them, but the three district councils in my constituency received no benefit whatever as far as I can tell and, of the 315 inward investment first-time visitations during the fiscal year 1994-95, only eight came to the south-east, to South Down. That is not an equitable distribution of jobs in an area of deprivation, long-term unemployment and health difficulties. In addition, ours is a rural community that has to cope with the advent of BSE and the onslaught on our fishing industry.
None of this, however, has prompted the IDB, LEDU or the Government to do anything special for my area. The Governments of other countries seem to manage successfully to apportion varying amounts of grant aid;it is even done elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Why cannot the same be done in parts of Northern Ireland?
As for the policy of decentralisation, there appears to be a steady tendency to draw jobs into central Belfast--it seems to act like a magnet--but such jobs are urgently required to sustain rural communities. Moreover, the agency externalisation process, now under way in all Government Departments, is slowly but surely drawing jobs into the centre and away from the periphery. That applies all over Northern Ireland, not just in my area. That, too, needs to be considered in the context of the targeting of areas of social need.
It may be difficult to attract industrial inward development to an area such as mine, but there should be no difficulty about drawing in tourists to the rural areas of Northern Ireland, in the west and the south-east. I am puzzled by the fact that the Northern Ireland tourist board appears to lack the money to implement the policies that it would like to put into effect. Last year--1995-96--the board's budget went mainly on building big hotels. But the average tourist does not want a big hotel, or its prices. He wants a small family-run guest house or bed and breakfast; he cannot afford a posh five-star hotel.
I am talking about our bread-and-butter tourists, not about the flashy conference tourists who never come back. The kind to whom I am referring will return time and again, bringing their families with them. In the year to31 March, no grant aid was available for small guest houses. Many in my constituency applied, but the door was slammed in their face. Something must urgently be done about the shortfall of accommodation for tourists in our area. Last summer, there was not a spare bed to be had, and we had to send people across the border. That is criminal.
"Incomes in Northern Ireland are lower than in the UK. Moreover benefits as a source of income are much more important in Northern Ireland. Consequently a budget which aims to finance tax reductions
13 May 1996 : Column 657through reductions in benefit expenditure will have a disproportionate impact on Northern Ireland, particularly if the targets for cuts are unemployment or sick and disabled benefits."
"If Budget changes were assessed in terms of the Government of Northern Ireland public policy priority TSN"--
"then serious concerns would have to be voiced. Those that gain the most are the better off, while households that are in the lower income deciles actually experience a fall in their income".
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