§ 27. Mr. John Hallasked the Minister of Labour the total number unemployed at the latest available date for over six weeks and the total number on short-time in the furniture industry expressed as percentages of the total employed in the industry nationally and in Wycombe. respectively.
§ Mr. WhitelawI regret that the information asked for in the first part of the Question is not available. The estimated number of operatives in the industry working short-time in March was 6,800 or 9.4 per cent. of the total number of operatives employed. Figures on a precisely comparable basis are not available for High Wycombe, but 220 or 2.5 per cent. of the employees in that area are believed to be on short time.
§ Mr. HallWhile welcoming the improvement in the short-time working in the industry shown by that reply, may I ask my hon. Friend why it is not 425 possible to give the figures asked for in the first part of the Question? Surely an analysis of the figures would not involve any statistical problem, and they would be most helpful.
§ Mr. WhitelawI note what my hon. Friend has said, but figures of the duration of unemployment are available only in respect of the total number unemployed and they are not available for individual industries.