§ Mr. Hendersonasked the Secretary of State for Employment what have been the total amounts paid and the total number of workers involved in Scotland and England, respectively, in each month in which the job release scheme has operated.
§ Mr. GoldingFollowing is the available information:
crease the level of rebates from the redundancy fund, and by how much.
§ Mr. GoldingThe following gives the state of the redundancy fund at the dates shown:
Date State of Redundancy Fund 23 March 1979 Credit balance of £86.9 million 31 March 1978 Credit balance of £41.9 million 31 March 1977 Credit balance of £8.4 million 31 March 1976 Deficit of £2.7 million 31 March 1975 Credit balance of £15.8 million 31 March 1974 Credit balance of £13.8 million The average weekly levels of income from the employment protection allocation and payment of rebates during the year ended 199W 28 February 1979 were £2.7 million and £1.4 million respectively. The average weekly growth of the fund in the year ended 23 March 1979 was £0.9 million.
If payments of rebates during the year ended 28 February 1979 had been at the rate of 50 per cent. the redundancy fund would have been reduced by £15.9 million.
Regarding the level of rebates, I have nothing to add to what was said by the Minister of State in the House on 28 November 1978 during the debate on the Employment Protection (Variation of Limits) Order 1978 and the Unfair Dismissal (Increase of Compensation Limit) Order 1978—[Official Report, 29 November 1978; Vol. 959, c. 392–3.]
ENGLAND Number of potentially redundant jobs supported during month Number of workers working short-time to avoid redundancy during month Number of workers working short-time not connected with redundancy Expenditure during month £ 1978— July 463 512 — — August 696 1,033 6 56,654 September 164 183 — 8,104 October 1,272 1,295 342 69,280 November 2,743 3,627 756 122,720 December 3,258 2,951 — 119,191 1979— January 4,100 4,889 — 200,021 February 2,758 3,746 7 105,749
SCOTLAND Number of potentially redundant jobs supported during month Number of workers working short-time to avoid redundancy during month Number of workers working short-time not connected with redundancy Expenditure during month £ 1978— August 15 34 — — September 14 35 — 486 October — — — 1,363 November 180 187 — 3,900 December 228 186 — 6,243 1979— January 264 282 — 8,351 February 25 57 — 3,487