§ 20. Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many persons were unemployed in Scotland at the most recent date for which figures are available.
§ Mr. John FraserOn 11th November 1974 there were 85,468.
§ 29. Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will invite the Manpower Services Commission to provide special occupational guidance units for the benefit of persons over 50 years of age who become unemployed or redundant.
§ Mr. John FraserI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the staff of the Occupational Guidance Service are equipped to meet the vocational guidance needs of people of all age groups who need or wish to consider a change of occupation. In these circumstances, the commission has no plans to provide special units to serve separate groups in the population.
§ 42. Mrs, Chalkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment what are the latest figures available for the North West and Merseyside of persons wholly unemployed for 13 weeks or more compared with similar national figures by main category of industry and type of employment.
§ Mr. John FraserAt 14th October, the latest date for which an analysis by the length of time unemployed is available, the numbers unemployed for more than 13 weeks in the North-West Region, the Merseyside Development Area and Great Britain were 51,335, 26,899 and 288,054 respectively. The figures include estimates for a small number of employment offices which did not render statistics in October. There is no industrial or occupational analysis of these duration figures.