§ Mr. Altonasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the current level of unemployment in Liverpool; and how many redundancies have been announced in the past six months.
§ Mr. Jim LesterOn 8 May the provisional unemployment rate for the Liverpool travel-to-work area was 12.8 per cent.
Since 1 November 1979, proposed redundancies in the Liverpool travel-to-work area affecting 9,951 workers have been notified to the Department under the provisions of the Employment Protection Act. There is no statutory requirement on employers to notify redundancies where fewer than 10 workers are involved. Experience shows, however, that for a variety of reasons many of the redundancies notified in this way do not in the event take place: in the same period the total of redundancies which employers have confirmed to the MSC as having taken place, or being about to take place, is 5,378. This figure, too, does not include redundancies involving fewer than 10 workers.