§ Mr. Winnickasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the number, names and numbers of employees involved in firms which have closed since May 1979 in (a) the West Midlands, (b) the Black Country areas and the West Midlands and (c) the Walsall travel-to-work area.
§ Mr. Peter Morrison:There are no comprehensive statistics of closures. The available information on closures, involving redundancies of 10 or more employees, reported to the Manpower Services Commission as due to occur in the requested areas between May 1979 and September 1981 is shown in the table below.
Since the information is often provided in confidence, the identity of the firms cannot be disclosed.
Closures: May 1979 to September 1981* Number of firms Number of employees involved West Midlands 479 28,953 Black Country† 134 9,528 Walsall travel-to-work area 40 2,400 * Prior to January 1980 figures relate to redundancies notified within the month concerned rather than redundancies taking place in the month.Including provisional figures for August and September 1981.† Wolverhampton, Dudley and Sandwell, and Walsall travel-to-work areas.