§ Mrs. Wiseasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the average cost per week of an unemployed worker, taking into account both direct costs of benefit and loss of tax revenue.
§ Mr. Orme:It is estimated that the current average cost of unemployment and supplementary benefit to those receiving benefit is £20.50 a week.
Information on the distribution of the duration of unemployment, earnings distribution of the unemployed when not unemployed and the family circumstances of the unemployed is not in a form in which it can be used to estimate the average weekly loss of tax revenue.