§ Mr. BaldryTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many representations he has received following the publication of his Department's survey on the long-term unemployed in London; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LeeMy right hon. Friend has not received any representations following the publication of the results of the two London surveys covering employers and the longer-term unemployed, in London, respectively.
There has of course been widespread interest in the research findings, which reveal that there are 150,000 job vacancies in London, at a time when almost 300,000 people are claiming benefit as unemployed.
At least one third of the vacancies require no special qualifications or experience, although many of London's longer-term unemployed do have academic or vocational qualifications, with nearly one in 10 possessing degrees. Many also have experience in management and other skilled occupations.
A quarter of the longer-term unemployed interviewed had not looked for work in the previous week. Many of those who said that they were actively looking for work used methods different from those favoured by employers in filling vacancies. Some of the London unemployed need
509Wthe opportunity to retrain in up-to-date skills, and we now have employment training for them. Others need to look more intensively for the jobs to which they are already well-suited. The surveys underline the importance of the measures which the Government are taking to ensure that benefit is drawn only by those who are genuinely unemployed.