§ Mr. George Grantasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the current level of unemployment in the mid-Northumberland area; and how many redundancies have been announced in the last six months.
§ Mr. Jim LesterAt 12 June, the provisional number of people registered as unemployed in the area covered by the Alnwick, Amble, Ashington, Bedlington, Blyth, Cramlington and Morpeth employment offices was 7,025.
The number of proposed redundancies, notified to my Department under the redundancy handling provisions of the 754W Employment Protection Act 1975 in the above area in the six months ended 31 May 1980, involved 912 employees at 21 establishments. There is no statutory requirement to notify my Department when proposed redundancies do not take place.
I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the number of redundancies notified to it as due to occur in the above area in the six months ended 31 May 1980 involved 287 employees. This figure is provisional since some notifications are received late.
Both Department of Employment and Manpower Services Commission figures are for redundancies involving 10 or more employees. I would refer the hon. Member to my reply of 30 June to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Handsworth (Miss Wright) for a fuller explanation of these statistics. [Vol. 987, c. 383–4]