§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will provide an estimate of the total cost of unemployment to the Exchequer, including benefits, redundancy fund payments, administration costs, lost revenue, and so on.
§ Mr. EggarThe estimated expenditure in 1988–89 on unemployment and supplementary benefit paid to the unemployed is £5,390 million; redundancy fund payments totalled £7 million and the administration costs of paying benefits to the unemployed were £332 million.