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Unemployment (North Northamptonshire)

I am grateful to Mr. Speaker for granting me this Adjournment debate on the worrying trend of increased unemployment in north Northamptonshire, which provides me with the opportunity to put my concerns to the Minister. I thank him for his attendance and I look forward to his response to my concerns and suggestions. He is a fine, fair-minded and able Minister, and I am sure that we will have a constructive debate. I am very pleased that my hon. Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr. Hollobone) is here to give his views to the Minister, if he catches your eye, Mr. Deputy Speaker. He works tirelessly on his constituents’ behalf, and I note that he, too, has grave concerns about the rising level of unemployment in north Northamptonshire. I should say at the outset that I am not trying to score party political points through this debate; I merely want to highlight the facts to the Minister and urge the Government to take action to reverse the rise in unemployment in north Northamptonshire. In the Wellingborough constituency, unemployment has risen by 19 per cent. since this time last year. Unfortunately, 42 other constituencies in the United Kingdom saw an even greater increase last year. Some 1,536 people in Wellingborough now claim jobseeker’s allowance— 2.8 per cent. more than did so in December 1997. The facts are there, and it is clear that unemployment in Wellingborough is higher now than it was in December 1997. The same is true of 82 other constituencies. The Labour party’s 1997 election manifesto stated the following:"““We will attack long-term unemployment…Our goal will be educational and employment opportunities for all…Our long-term objective is high and stable levels of employment...Labour’s welfare-to-work programme will attack unemployment and break the spiral of escalating spending on social security…We will co-ordinate benefits, employment and career services, and utilise new technology to improve their quality and efficiency.””" There is nothing in that that I would disagree with. The present Government inherited a healthy and growing economy. As the Chancellor likes to point out at every opportunity, the economy continues to grow. So why do we have rising unemployment in north Northamptonshire? Something has gone wrong somewhere: if a Government have inherited a healthy economy, unemployment should not continue to rise. Labour’s 1997 manifesto promises have not materialised in Wellingborough, for whatever reason. We have a problem, and it is time for the Government to recognise it and do something about it. I am not interested in hearing Government spin and rhetoric on these clear facts; I just want to know why things have gone wrong and what we can all do to reverse this worrying trend. Of course, there is one clear and major explanation for rising unemployment in Wellingborough—the decline of the manufacturing industry. Northamptonshire has historically been a manufacturing county, and it is that sector that has provided so many of the population’s jobs over the years. Manufacturing industry is, of course, the engine house of the British economy. Without it, there could be no public services—the very public services of which the Government like to boast. None the less, because of the rapid decline in manufacturing jobs under this Government, those jobs are no longer available to the workers of Wellingborough. In 1991, 32 per cent. of employees’ jobs in Wellingborough were in manufacturing. In 1997, that figure had fallen by only 1 per cent., to 31 per cent. However, by 2005 only 19 per cent. of employees’ jobs were in manufacturing industries in the constituency. That huge decrease has had a knock-on effect on the number of people unemployed and those on jobseeker’s allowance in Wellingborough. A 40 per cent. reduction in the number of people employed in manufacturing in Wellingborough should be of great concern not only locally but nationally. At the beginning of 2005, the British Chambers of Commerce stated, in response to figures for industrial and manufacturing output produced by the Office for National Statistics:"““The BCC still expects a modest upturn in manufacturing over the next two years. But it is clear that growth will remain totally inadequate. Hopes of manufacturing recovery have so far been bitterly disappointed.””" In December of last year, in response to the October 2006 manufacturing output figures, the BCC stated:"““The manufacturing figures remain weak by historical standards and the recovery is fragile and vulnerable.””" It is clear that manufacturing industry will continue to decline in this country, and will do so even more given the recent increase in interest rates. The Government needs to take manufacturing industry seriously and create an environment in which it can expand rather than contract. One of our problems in Wellingborough is that we do not have many large companies. Instead we have many small to medium-sized companies. When one of those closes down, it causes a faint ripple through the county, but does not appear on the national stage and therefore no major action is taken. But after a series of medium sized companies have closed, the effects gain momentum and have huge implications for employment in the constituency. Small and medium-sized companies are much more affected by the bureaucracy and red tape of Government regulations than their larger counterparts are. Businesses in my constituency are suffering and failing because they are being strangled by the enormous amount of bureaucracy and red tape imposed on them. Labour’s election promise in 1997 was to cut unnecessary red tape for small businesses, but I am often approached by people with businesses in my constituency that are struggling. Only this morning I launched my business breakfast forum in my constituency, and yet again local business people came to tell me of the problems that they are having with regulation and bureaucracy. The Government may argue, with some justification, that many of those regulations come from the European Union. However, that argument does not wash, because of the Government’s willingness to do anything that the European Commission wants rather than stand up for the interests of British business. That leads to unemployment in my constituency. Thanks to the British people, we have stopped the Government taking us into the euro, so we perform much better than many of our European Union colleagues. But because of the Government’s actions, our manufacturing industries cannot stand up against the competitiveness of China and India, and the economy of the United States. We need to look urgently at attracting to north Northamptonshire new labour-rich businesses that will bring with them a wealth of jobs and opportunities. It has never before been so important to look into the employment situation in the area. That is because of the huge housing expansion that is taking place in north Northamptonshire, which will see 167,000 extra dwellings built in the county by 2016. Many of the plans for the huge increase in housing have been in place for years. However, there is little planning for infrastructure and employment opportunities to support that massive growth. I run the ““Listening to Wellingborough and Rushden”” campaign, which seeks the views of local people in regular surveys, forums, meetings and visits. As an MP, I hold well-attended weekly constituency surgeries where I regularly meet constituents who have concerns about unemployment, or who are dissatisfied with the service received from Jobcentre Plus or the local Department for Work and Pensions. Unfortunately, Wellingborough Jobcentre Plus has a performance rating for customer service of only 77.5 per cent., which means that about a quarter of all the people who use the service are dissatisfied. That is unacceptable. I have arranged a meeting with the corporate management team of Wellingborough council and the district manager of Jobcentre Plus to discuss the concerns of my constituents about unemployment and the effectiveness of the service they receive. Rising unemployment is a big issue for all the authorities in my area and we are all committed to alleviating the problems. Just before the debate, I opened 12 Sheep street, 23,000 sq ft of modern office accommodation. The interesting point about that development is that it was a public-private partnership. Invest Northamptonshire put in half the capital and Ciel Developers put in the other 50 per cent. The development will attract jobs to Wellingborough, but the problem is that Invest Northamptonshire has just found out that the Government have severely cut its budget. We have an initiative in my constituency that will work well, but the funding for it is being cut. Will the Minister comment on that? I am a little disappointed by the Government’s response to my letters; I felt that it was rather complacent. I want a constructive debate, so I am sure that we shall not hear Government spin on Labour’s employment record in the Minister’s reply. I wanted simply to lay bare to the Minister the facts about what is happening in my constituency. I have three suggestions to make to the Minister. If he could meet all three, it would help my constituents enormously and reduce unemployment in north Northamptonshire. First, I invite him to visit Wellingborough to see the problems at first hand so that he can be more responsive to the needs of my constituents. Perhaps he could help to organise a multi-agency response to a serious unemployment problem. Secondly, the employment landscape of Wellingborough has changed. Because of the expansion of house building, we are becoming a commuter town, and are only 50 minutes away from London by rail. The Government often talk about relocating some of their Departments to the regions. Why not bring a Department to Wellingborough? It would create jobs for people living in north Northamptonshire, and the town is only 50 minutes away from London, which must be a major benefit for a Department that is relocating. Thirdly, I have repeatedly argued for a community hospital in the constituency to cope with the growing needs of the local population. A new hospital would create local jobs, while providing a vital service to the ever-growing population of north Northamptonshire. As Wellingborough is in the worst funded primary care trust in the worst funded strategic health authority in the country, by reference to the national capitation formula, if the Government invest in Wellingborough the money they say that they should invest, we could have such a hospital. I am asking not for more Government expenditure, but for our fair share of Government expenditure. It is vital that we all work together to encourage new business and industry to come to north Northamptonshire. Now that the expansion programme is under way, this is a perfect time to do that, and I look forward to the Minister’s comments.