§ Mr. Richard Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many of last year's school leavers are still unemployed in (a) West Yorkshire, (b) Kirklees, (c) Huddersfield, (d) Greater Manchester and (e) Oldham; and what percentage these numbers represent of the total number of school leavers for each area.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe statistics do not indicate the numbers of last year's school leavers who are still unemployed. For this reason, and because the latest numbers of school leavers available from the Department of Education and Science are for the academic year 1978–79, it is not possible to provide the percentages requested. The following table gives the numbers of unemployed school leavers under 18 years of age in the areas specified at March 1980, before the Easter leaving date, and at February 1981.
13 March 1980 12 February 1981 West Yorkshire Metropolitan County 705 3,110 Kirklees Metropolitan District* 147 572 Huddersfield employment office area 116 398 Greater Manchester Metropolitan County 938 4,344 Oldham employment office area 19 234 *Taken as the area covered by the employment offices of Batley, Dewsbury, Huddersfield and Spen Valley. The hon. Member will recall that a major expansion in the youth opportunities programme was announced in November last year to provide 440,000 work experience and training places for the young unemployed in 1981–82.