§ 30. Mr. Rossasked the Minister of Labour what were the ratios of wholly-unemployed boys to unfilled vacancies for boys in Scotland and the Midlands at the relevant dates in January.
§ Mr. GodberIn January, for every 100 unemployed boys there were 21 unfilled vacancies in Scotland and 461 in the Midlands Region.
§ Mr. GodberAt the moment, I do not have the figures which were given last week.
§ Mr. RossFrom my recollection, I think that the figures were—[An HON. MEMBER: "Why ask?"] I wanted to see whether they were accurate. My recollection is that about 45 jobs were available for every 100 unemployed boys in Scotland last month. I understand that now the figure is down to 21. Is that some more Conservative progress?
§ Mr. GodberI must remind the hon. Member that during the intervening month there has been the Christmas school-leaving. In Scotland this provided 20 a substantial accretion of youngsters, whereas in England it did not. There was a variation. It is relevant that, in Scotland, out of 7,500 boys who left at the end of the Christmas term, over 6,000 have found jobs.