§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the current state of the Redundancy Fund; and how this compares with previous years.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithAt the end of last week the Redundancy Fund was in deficit by £5,216,000. The position at the end
408Wboth in absolute terms and as a percentage of those registered as unemployed in the region.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithFollowing is the information:
of each previous calendar year was as follows:
- 1966—deficit—£1 million approximately.
- 1967—deficit—£7,042,000.
- 1968—deficit—£16,269,000.
- 1969—deficit—£7,136,000.
- 1970—surplus—£2,754,000.
- 1971—deficit—£4,773,000.
- 1972—deficit—£5,888,000.
Deficits in the Redundancy Fund may be covered by loans from the National Loans Fund.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment how much was paid out in redundancy payments in each of the years since the inception of the scheme; and how many persons have qualified for payments in each of those years.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithThe following figures relate to payments to employees under the statutory scheme:
Calendar Year Amount £ Number of Persons 6.12.65 to 31.12.66 … 26,592,000 138,895 1967 … 50,213,000 249,782 1968 … 61,837,000 264,491 1969 … 61,886,000 250,764 1970 … 72,541,000 275,563 1971 … 108,273,000 370,306 *1972 … 97,513,000 297,120 *Includes provisional figures for the quarter ended 31.12.72.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment when he intends to carry out the proposal, which he announced on 1st February, 1972, to review the redundancy payments scheme and to issue a consultative document for that purpose.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithThere is nothing I can add to my reply to the hon. Member's Question on 21st November.—[Vol 846, c. 349.]