§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the latest number of persons unemployed in the Liverpool travel-to-work area; and what percentage this represents.
§ Mr. Jim LesterAt 9 October the provisional number of people registered as unemployed in the Liverpool travel-to-work area was 72,568, an unemployment rate of 15.2 per cent.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to reduce unemployment on Merseyside.
§ Mr. Jim LesterI shall reply to the hon. Member as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Employment, if he has any plans to pay an official visit to Merseyside to discuss the employment situation.
§ Mr. Jim LesterI have paid a number of visits to Merseyside, as have other Ministers in my Department.
I have no plans at present to make a further visit to Merseyside. Earlier this month, however, I had a very useful discussion about the unemployment problems of the area with a delegation of councillors and officials from Liverpool city council and hon. Members representing two Liverpool constituencies.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the total of unemployed persons in the Merseyside special development area at the latest available date; and what is the percentage of unemployed.
§ Mr. Jim LesterAt 9 October the provisional number of people registered as unemployed in the Merseyside special development area was 102,247, an unemployment rate of 14.8 per cent.