§ Mr. Michael McGuireasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the present rate of unemployment for all 727W groups in (a) the Skelmersdale New Town and (b) the rest of the Ince constituency how it compares with 1974, 1975 and 1976; and how it compares with the rest of the North-West and nationally.
§ Mr. Golding, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 16th December 1977; Vol. 941, c. 477], gave the following information:
Rates of unemployment are calculated only for complete travel-to-work areas. The Ince constituency comprises parts of the Ormskirk and Wigan travel-to-work areas. Following is the information available:
PERCENTAGE RATES OF UNEMPLOYMENT December 1975 December 1977 Ormskirk travel-to-work area* 8.7 11.8 Wigan travel-to-work area† 6.7 8.9 Rest of North-West Region 6.3 7.5 Great Britain 5.0 6.1 * Ormskirk and Skelmersdale employment office areas. † Wigan, Ashton-in-Makerfield and Hindley employment office areas. Because of industrial action by some staff in the Department of Employment group, figures for December 1974 and December 1976 are not available.