§ Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the current unemployment statistics for Wisbech and estimate the effect that the closure of the Smedley factory will have on this in percentage terms.
§ Mr. Peter Morrison[pursuant to his reply, 26 January 1981]: At 15 January 1981 the number of people registered as unemployed in the Wisbech employment office area was 2,015; the percentage rate was 12.6 per cent. The figures are provisional.
I understand that Smedley's factory is due to close on 17 April 1981 and it is not possible to give any realistic estimate of the number of workers currently employed there who will subsequently register as unemployed at Wisbech employment office.
All the facilities of the Manpower Services Commission will of course be made available to the workers affected to help them find new jobs or to train for fresh employment.