§ 34. Mr. Bruceasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about current levels of unemployment in Scotland.
§ Mr. LangThe continuing problem of unemployment, particularly in Scotland, remains one of the Government's principal concerns. The impact over the last year of lower oil-related employment, notably in Grampian region, has been a key factor. Scotland might well otherwise have experienced a fall in unemployment in line with the rest of the United Kingdom.
The primary objective of the Government's policy is to create the conditions in which unemployment will fall. The rate of inflation has been brought down, providing a more stable environment for industry, and a wide range of measures to assist employment, improve incentives and increase flexibility has been introduced. Our current action for jobs campaign aims to ensure that everyone knows about the range of practical help on offer to tackle the problems of unemployment.
§ Dr. Godmanasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many young people under 25 years of age are unemployed in the Greenock travel-to-work area and Strathclyde region; and of these how many have been unemployed for more than one, two, three and four years.
§ Mr. LangOn 8 January 1987 (the latest date for which information is available) the numbers of unemployed claimants under 25 years of age in the Greenock travel-towork area and Strathclyde regional authority by duration were as shown in the table.
Duration Unemployed Greenock travel-to-work area Number of Unemployed Claimants Strathclyde Regional Authority Number of Unemployed Claimants Up to 1 year 2,447 54,786 1 to 2 years 668 12,009 2 to 3 years 260 4,915 3 to 4 years 113 2,755 over 4 years 155 3,583 Total 3,643 78,048 This information is available in the Library.