§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement regarding the basis of the calculations which revealed a total of 1,141,000 registered unemployed persons being in receipt of unemployment and/ or supplementary benefit at May 1976 in his Written Answer of 20th December, columns 65–6, and Table 112 of November 1976 Department of Employment Gazette which shows a total of 1,017,000 registered unemployed in May 1976 being in receipt of unemployment and/or supplementary benefit.
§ Mr. DeakinsThe number of registered unemployed persons in receipt of unemployment and/or supplementary benefit at May 1976 shown in the table given in my reply to the hon. Member for Woolwich, West (Mr. Bottomley) on 20th December 1976—[Vol. 923, c.64–6]—is not 1,141,000 but 1 million, since the number of persons receiving both unemployment and supplementary benefit—totalling 141,000—is shown not only in the fourth and sixth columns of the 527W table, but also in the eighth column. The figure of 1 million was derived from a count of persons registered as unemployed and entitled to benefit on Monday 3rd May 1976, whereas the figures—totalling 1,017,000—shown in Table 112 of the November 1976 Department of Employment Gazette have been updated in the light of a count of persons registered as unemployed on Thursday 13th May 1976.