§ Mr. Fosterasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his reply given to the hon. Member for Caernarvon (Mr. Wigley) on 9 December 1980, Vol. 995, c. 589–94, what is the latest estimate of the additional cost to the Government for each additional man who becomes unemployed, assuming he has a wife and two children and was previously earning the national average wage; and how this total financial cost will differ, taking into account any change that will occur in the net cost of indirect taxes as a result of the increase of (a) alcohol, (b) petrol and (c) tobacco taxes in this year's Budget.
§ Mr. BrittanAs the original reply made clear, calculations of the cost to the Government for each additional man who becomes unemployed require a number of detailed assumptions to be made in order to 125W determine his entitlement to benefit payments and the loss of tax revenue involved. Such calculations could therefore be continuously updated only at disproportionate cost.