§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Employment why he has changed the area in Suffolk covered by the Bury St. Edmunds employment office for the purpose of collecting unemployment statistics; and if the figure of 1,410 men and women registered as out of work in the Bury and Mildenhall area at the last count represents a net increase over the previous count, when Bury St. Edmunds was combined with Brandon but not with Mildenhall.
§ Mr. GoldingThere has been no recent change in the areas for which the figures are compiled. The numbers unemployed can be given separately for the Bury St. Edmunds, Mildenhall and Brandon employment office areas. The latest figures, which are provisional and relate to 13th January are 1,098, 376 and 193, respectively. The corresponding figures from the previous count, in October 1976, were 978, 328 and 188. Complete counts were not made in November and December because of industrial 547W action by some staff within the Department of Employment Group.
In the calculation of unemployment rates, which are available for the whole of a travel-to-work area but not separately for its constituent parts, Bury St. Edmunds is linked with Mildenhall, and Brandon with Thetford.
§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number of registered unemployed men and women in the Haverhill area of Suffolk for January 1977 and for the same month in each of the previous 10 years.
§ Mr. GoldingFollowing is the information available:
NUMBERS REGISTERED AS UNEMPLOYED IN THE HAVERHILL EMPLOYMENT OFFICE AREA Males Females Total January 1967 … 144 36 180 January 1968 … 151 52 203 January 1969 … 111 41 152 January 1970 … 124 27 151 January 1971 … 168 50 218 January 1972 … 206 116 322 January 1973 … 290 146 436 January 1974 … 143 21 164 January 1975 … — — — January 1976 … 412 111 523 January 1977 … 458 122 580 Because of industrial action at local offices of the Employment Service Agency information for January 1975 is not available. The figures for January 1977 are provisional.