§ Mr. Parkasked the Secretary of State for Employment how much was paid out in redundancy payments in 1976 and 1977 up to the latest available date; and how many persons have qualified for payments in each of those years.
§ Mr. GoldingThe following information relates to employees in respect of whom payments—including rebate paid to employers and payments direct to employees—were made from the Redundancy Fund in the periods shown.
§ Mr. GoldingAt 12th January, 9.4 per cent. of those registered as unemployed in both the West Midlands Region and the remainder of Great Britain were 60 years of age or over.
§ Mr. Parkasked the Secretary of State for Employment what were the numbers of employees in employment in manufacturing industries in the West Midlands Region in each of the last four years.
§ Mr. GoldingFollowing is the information at June in each year and, additionally, in December last year.
Employees in Employment in Manufacturing Industries in the West Midlands Region (Thousands) 1974 June 1,081 1975 June 1,021 1976 June 979 1977 June 999* 1977 December 1,008* * Provisional estimate
§ Mr. Parkasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the figures for registered unemployed and unfilled vacancies in the West Midlands Region, respectively, for the latest month for which statistics are available, in comparison with the levels for 1975 and 1976.
143W
§ Mr. GoldingThe information is given in the following table. Because of industrial action by some staff in the Department
Numbers registered as unemployed Notified unfilled vacancies at Employment Offices Careers Offices January 1976 … … … 129,599 4,518 1,471 January 1978 … … … 130,844 11,395 1,612 The vacancy figures relate only to vacancies notified to employment officers and careers officers and are not a measure of total vacancies. Because of possible duplication, the two sets of figures should not be added together.
§ Mr. Parkasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many building trade craftsmen are unemployed in the West Midlands Region to the latest convenient date.
§ Mr. GoldingThe following table gives the numbers of unemployed people registered at employment offices in the West Midlands Region at 12th January for work in certain selected occupations in the construction industry.
Carpenters and joiners 832 Electricians 118 Linesmen and cable jointers 14 Heating and ventilating engineering fitters 39 Plumbers, pipe fitters and gas fitters 273 Mental scaffolders 96 Other steel erectors and riggers and cable splicers 305 Painters and decorators 1,020 Bricklayers and stone setters 747 Plasterers 244 Terrazzo workers and tile setters 41 Roofers 157 Glaziers 27 General builders 145 Pipe layers and jointers 111 Site work concreters 41 Earth movers and civil engineering equipment operators 251 Crane, hoist and other materials handling equipment operators 185 Total of above 4,643
§ Mr. Parkasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many people are awaiting admission to Government training centres in the West Midlands Region; and what is the maximum waiting period for admission.
§ Mr. GoldingI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that on 17th January 1978 there were 1,411 people awaiting admission to skillcentres—formerly Government training centres—in the West Midlands area. At the144W of Employment group, figures for January 1975 are not available.
same date, the maximum waiting period for admission was about 14 months.
§ Mr. Parkasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many persons under 18 years of age are unemployed in the West Midlands Region at the latest available date.
§ Mr. GoldingAt 12th January, 12,488 people under 18 years of age were registered as unemployed in the West Midlands Region.