§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many redundancies in Ayrshire have been notified to his Department in each of the past four months; and how many of these affected men.
§ Mr. GoldingI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that, until the redundancy provisions of the Employment Protection Act came into force on 8th March 1976, employers were under no obligation to notify redundancies.
Redundancies in Ayrshire notified to the Employment Service Agency prior to 8th March 1976, are as follows:
Total redundancies notified Males affected January 343 287 February 180 149 1st March to 6th March 40 40 Redundancies notified to the Secretary of State in accordance with the provisions of the Employment Protection Act are:
8th March–31st March 229* April 1,081 * Including 24 redundancies notified under the transitional provisions. It is not possible to give separate figures for males, as this is not a requirement of redundancy notifications.