§ Mr. Cryerasked the Secretary of State for Employment by what percentage unemloyment has increased since May 1979 in the Keighley travel-to-work area.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 1 December 1980]: Between May 1979 and November 1980 the provisional increase in the numbers registered as unemployed in the Keighley employment office area was 110 per cent. The figures on which the increase is based include school leavers, numerically greater in November than in May. Moreover, they are not adjusted for seasonal influences, which normally lead to unemployment being higher in November than in May. Additionally, the figures are not strictly comparable because of the introduction in September 1979, of fortnightly attendance and payment of benefit. Estimates of this effect are not available for local areas but for the country as a whole the monthly unemployment figures from October 1979 are about 20,000 or 1½ per cent. higher than under weekly attendance.