§ Mr. Tebbitasked the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his reply of 23rd February to the hon. Member for Chingford concerning the multiplier used in assessing the total number of jobs lost arising from a primary job loss, what multiplier he used in calculating the total 448W number of jobs liable to be lost as a result of (a) the threatened Chrysler collapse (b) the threatened BLMC collapse (c) the Scottish Daily News closure and (d) the defence cuts made since March 1974.
§ Mr. BoothAs my reply of 23rd February to the hon. Member indicated, it is not our normal practice to rely upon a mathematical formula or formulae to assess the total number of jobs lost as a result of specific redundancies. As far as possible we examine the circumstances of each case on the basis of the best available evidence.
Questions concerning the effects of defence cuts are matters for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence.