§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list in the Official Report (a) numbers of unemployed workers aged up to 21 years and (b) the percentage of all unemployed workers who are aged up to 21 years in Birkenhead, the Birkenhead travel-to-work area and Great Britain respectively.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 2 November 1979, c. 688]: Following is the available information for the age ranges nearest to those specified:
surplus for each year since the fund's inception; and what he estimates will be the level in the surplus of a next accounting year.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 5 November 1979]: At 26 October 1979 the redundancy fund had a credit balance of £125.9 million. The surplus/deficit for each year since the fund's inception was:
Year ended Surplus £000's Deficit £000's 31 March 1966 2,545 31 March 1967 128 31 March 1968 10,985 31 March 1969 17,755 31 March 1970 3,641 31 March 1971 3,715 31 March 1972 6,424 31 March 1973 3,674 31 March 1974 13,804 31 March 1975 15,763 31 March 1976 2,732 31 March 1977 8,419 31 March 1978 41,947 31 March 1979 91,297 It is estimated that the level of the surplus at 31 March 1980 will be £150 million.
If the level of rebate and the employment protection allocation and the number of redundancies remain unchanged it 131W is estimated that the surplus at 31 March 1981 will be £210 million.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if outgoings from the redundancy payments fund are treated as public expenditure.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 5 November 1979]: They have been so treated throughout the life of the redundancy fund.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment when he proposes to lay the order to increase the redundancy payment rebate to employers.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 5 November 1979]: The matter is under consideration.