§ Mr. McQuarrieasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many persons in the East Aberdeenshire constituency are at present registered as unemployed since (a) 1978, (b) 1979 and (c) 1980; and what percentage of the employable work force has been unemployed in each of these years.
§ Mr. Alexander FletcherInformation is not available in the precise form requested. The following tables show (1) the numbers of people registered as unemployed in the348W Peterhead and Fraserburgh employment office areas, which between them cover most of the East Aberdeenshire constituency, on 15 January 1981—the latest date for which information is available—who had been unemployed for the periods stated; and (2) the annual average unemployment percentage rates for Peterhead and Fraserburgh in 1978–1980.
Table 1 Numbers registered as unemployed Duration Peterhead Fraserburgh Over 3 years 26 30 Over 2 and up to 3 years 23 25 Over 1 and up to 2 years 74 53
Table 2 Average annual unemployment percentage rates Peterhead Fraserburgh 1978 5.6 6.4 1979 6.5 6.2 1980 7.9 7.6