§ Mr. Millanasked the Secretary of State for Employment what has been the effect on the unemployment register for the United Kingdom for each month from January 1979 to date of the special employment and training measures.
§ Mr. Peter Morrison[pursuant to his reply, 16 April 1981, c. 235]: Estimates are made only for Great Britain. In February 1981 it was estimated that the direct effect on the unemployed register, was about 370,000. Estimates for earlier dates on a comparable basis are not available. However, in early 1979 it was estimated that the effect was about 160,000 and in early 1980 an estimate of about 190,000 was made.
The estimates indicate only the order of magnitude of the effect on the unemployed register since they depend on a number of uncertain assumptions which are changed 298W from time to time. The estimates cannot therefore be regarded as a series and they are not retrospectively adjusted.