§ Miss Wrightasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish his figures for the number unemployed for the Birmingham area for each month since May 1979 on the old and the new basis.
§ Mr. AlisonUnemployment figures for the Birmingham travel-to-work area on both the old and the new basis are only available for October 1982, when they were 125,788—old basis—and 115,605—new basts. Figures on the old basis for earlier dates were published month by month in theEmployment Gazette, copies of which are in the Library. The number of unemployed claimants—new basis—in the Birmingham travel-to-work area at 11 November was 114,806.
The scale of the difference between the old and new basis for October 1982 would not apply in other months.