§ Mr, Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment what upward adjustment is now needed on the figure of £8,000 which was the figure supplied by his Department to the tripartite committee studying the Welsh coalfield in 1979 as the average cost to public funds each year of each unemployed person.
§ Mr. Jim LesterThe average cost to public funds of each unemployed mineworker is now estimated to be £6,492 per worker during the first year of unemployment and £5,390 during the second year of unemployment. The estimates are based on the assumption that each mineworker remains unemployed for the whole of the two-year period. The corresponding figure for 1979 which was supplied to the tripartite committee was £6,000 for the first year and £5,100 thereafter.