§ 40. Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many employment-giving enterprises have closed in the Weymouth and Portland area in the last two years; what was the percentage unemployment rate in that area in October 1964 and at the present date; and if he will make a statement on the likely employment consequence of the reported closure of Portcrete.
§ Mr. GoldingUntil the redundancy provisions of the Employment Protection Act came into force on 8th March 1976 employers were under no obligation to notify redundancies. However, prior to that date, the Employment Services Agency (ESA) maintained records of closures, notified voluntarily by employers, involving generally 10 or more people.
532WI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that four closures, affecting 114 workpeople, were notified by employers in the Weymouth employment office area, which covers Weymouth and Portland, in the last two years. In October 1964 and October 1976 the total numbers unemployed in the Weymouth employment office area were 354 and 1,441 respectively. The rates of unemployment represented by these figures were 2.1 per cent. and 7.3 per cent. respectively.
Although the number of people involved is small any loss of jobs at Port-crete Ltd. would obviously be unwelcome at the present time.