HC Deb 27 March 1973 vol 853 cc273-5W
Mr. Leadbitter

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many disabled persons, persons registered for light work and persons over 45 years of age are wholly unemployed in the Hartlepool exchange area; how many in each category have been out of work for more than six months; and how many have had or been offered rehabilitation courses or Government training courses.

Mr. Dudley Smith

In January 1973, the latest date for which figures analysed by age are available, 253 registered disabled people were wholly unemployed in the area. 162 of these and 871 other wholly unemployed people in the area were 45 years of age or over. 185 registered disabled people and 508 other people had been unemployed for more than six months. Information about the numbers of people unemployed at that date who were regarded as suitable only for light work is not available. Of the 214 disabled people unemployed in the area on 12th March, four have been offered, and have accepted, vocational training courses; and the possibility of industrial rehabilitation has been discussed with 74, of whom 24 are or will be attending courses. Similar information is, I regret, not readily available for unemployed able-bodied people aged 45 or over.

Mr. Leadbitter

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many men have been wholly unemployed in the Hartlepool exchange area for more than six months; and how many boys and girls, respectively, have not been offered their first job from leaving school.

Mr. Dudley Smith

On 8th January, the latest date for which the information is available, 1,324 men in the area covered by the Hartlepool and Hartlepool Headland employment exchanges had been unemployed for more than 26 weeks. The precise information about young people is not available but on 12th March there were 23 boys and 10 girls in the area who were school leavers registered for their first employment.

Mr. Leadbitter

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many new jobs were offered in the Hartlepool exchange area during a 12-month period to the latest available date; and what were the recorded redundancies in the same period.

Mr. Dudley Smith

3,839 vacancies for adults in the Hartlepool travel-to-work area were notified to my Department in the year ended 7th March 1973. Our statistics do not show how many of these vacancies arose through the creation of new jobs. Redundancies affecting 730 workpeople were recorded as due to occur in this area during the year ended 28th February.