§ Mr. Maddenasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many people have retired early under the job release scheme throughout the United Kingdom and in Calderdale, West Yorkshire; and if he will make a statement about the progress of the revised job release scheme.
§ Mr. GoldingUp to 18th July 1978 the numbers of applications approved under the job release scheme in the United Kingdom and in Calderdale, West Yorkshire were 30,430 and 354 respectively. Since the job release scheme was extended to cover the whole country on 1st April 1978 the number of applications received each week has risen to about 500. Between 28th March and 18th July more than 5,500 applications for job release were approved.