§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the total number of unemployed in Kirkby and on Merseyside at the latest available date; and what are these figures as a percentage of the employed population.
§ Mr. John FraserAt April 1975, 4,399 people were unemployed in the Kirkby employment office area and 62,083 in the Merseyside special development area. Rates of unemployment are calculated by expressing the numbers unemployed as a percentage of the estimated total number of employees, including the unemployed. A separate rate is not available for Kirkby, which is part of the Liverpool travel-to-work area. The rate for the Merseyside special development area was 8.2 per cent.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many men and how many women from Kirkby, and from Merseyside, respectively, have received training and retraining in Government skill centres since January 1973.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that it is not possible without disproportionate cost to identify trainees from individual local office areas. There are three skill 321W centres in this area, for which the numbers of local applicants trained from January 1973 to December 1974 were:
Men Women Liverpool 1,031 Nil St. Helens 343 Nil Kirkby Annexe 179 Nil* Runcorn 640 3 * Opened 2nd January 1973. In addition during this period a few people from Merseyside would have received training in skill centres outside this area.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many persons under 18 years of age are registered as unemployed in Kirkby and on Merseyside, respectively; and how many school leavers are registered as unemployed.
§ Mr. John FraserThe most recent information about all unemployed young people, aged under 18, is for July 1974. Normally the statistics are compiled twice a year, in January and July, but the count due in January 1975 was not made due to industrial action at local offices of the Employment Service Agency. Counts of the numbers of unemployed school leavers aged under 18 are made each month and the figures for April 1975 for the Merseyside special development area and Kirkby were 2,675 and 233, respectively.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many men and women are unemployed in each occupational group in Kirkby and on Merseyside, respectively; and how many skill centre places are available for each such occupational group.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerOccupational analyses of the unemployed at March 1975 should be available shortly. I will arrange for the information to be put in theOfficial Report as soon as possible giving details of the unemployed and the skill centre places available.