§ Mr. Cowansasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the average period of time taken to process an application under the job creation scheme in the Northern Region.
§ Mr. GoldingI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the average period of time taken to process an application under the job creation programme in the Northern Region is two weeks.
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§ Mr. Cowansasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will give the figures, to the latest convenient date, of the number of disabled people registered as unemployed in the Newcastle upon Tyne employment office area; and how these compare with the levels for 1974 to 1977, inclusive;
(2) if he will give the figures, to the latest convenient date, of the number of people registered as unemployed under the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act in the Newcastle upon Tyne employment office area; and how these compare with the levels for 1974 to 1977 inclusive.
§ Mr. John GrantI shall reply to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Cowansasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many school leavers, to the latest convenient date, are currently registered unemployed in the Northern Region;
(2) if he will list the number of school leavers, to the latest convenient date, registered unemployed in each employment office area within the Northern Region.
§ Mr. GoldingAt December 1977 6,163 school leavers were registered as unemployed in the Northern Region. Of these, 6,068 were registered at the careers offices shown in the following table. As the boundaries of employment office and careers office areas do not coincide, information is not available for employment office areas.
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Careers offices Number of registered unemployed school leavers Alnwick 65 Ashington 201 Barrow in Furness 48 Berwick 9 Billingham 77 Bishop Auckland 114 Blaydon 87 Blyth 93 Carlisle 193 Chester le Street 99 Consett 119 Crook 73 Darlington 163 Durham 192 Easington 233 Eston 135 Gateshead 389 Guisborough 64 Hartlepool 181 Hexham 14 Houghton le Spring 64 Hepburn 333
Careers offices Number of registered unemployed school leavers Kendal 20 Middlesbrough 354 Newcastle upon Tyne 640 Newton Aycliffe 27 Redcar 83 South Shields 381 Spennymoor 119 Stanley 120 Stockton 119 Sunderland 724 Ulverston 12 North Tyneside 282 Washington 88 Whitehaven 71 Workington 82
§ Mr. Cowansasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will state the total number of job vacancies notified to his Department in the Northern Region and what were the comparable figures for the nearest convenient date from 1973 to 1977 inclusive;
(2) if he will give the figures for registered unemployed and unfilled vacancies in the Northern Region, respectively, for the latest month for which statistics are available, in comparison with the levels for 1974 to 1977, inclusive.
§ Mr. GoldingFollowing is the information:
Number of notified vacancies remaining unfilled At employment offices At careers offices Numbers registered as unemployed December-1973 13,371 3,969 50,948 December-1974 10,438 1,695 . .* December-1975 6,444 780 88,793 December-1976 . .* . .* . .* December-1977 7,942 471 118,180 The vacancy figures relate only to vacancies notified to employment offices and careers offices and are not a measure of total vacancies. Because of possible duplication the two series should not be added together. * Because of industrial action by some staff in the Department of Employment Group, unemployment figures for December 1974 and December 1976 and vacancy figures for December 1976 are not available.