§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment how the rate of increase in unemployment in the Stoke-on-Trent travel-to-work area compares with other areas of a similar size.
§ Mr. AlisonAn analysis of movements in unemployment ordered by size of travel-to-work areas is not readily available.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment when he last discussed the problems of unemployment in the Stoke-on-Trent travel-to-work area with representatives of the trade unions, management and civic authorities; and what plans he has for the future.
§ Mr. TebbitI am visiting the Stoke-on-Trent travel-to-work area on Friday 29 April, when I hope to talk to local industrialists about, amongst other things, the problems of unemployment in the area.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many unemployed people in the Stoke-on-Trent travel-to-work area are (a) men, (b) women, (c) aged 16 to 18 years, and (d) have been unemployed for over one year.
§ Mr. AlisonThe following table gives the information specified for unemployed claimants in the Stoke-on-Trent travel-to-work area.
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January 1983 March 1983 Total unemployed of which: 28,151 27,557 (a) males 19,817 19,442 (b) females 8,334 8,115 (c) aged 16 to 18 years 3,506 * (d) unemployed for over 52 weeks 11,271 * * Not available.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the number and percentage of workers who are unemployed in the Stoke-on-Trent travel-to-work area; what were the figures in May 1979; and what is his estimate of the effect on the latest figures of the change in calculating the numbers of unemployed.
§ Mr. AlisonThe following table gives the unemployment figures for the Stoke-on-Trent travel-to-work area.
Number Percentage rate Registered unemployed May 1979 8,191 4.1 October 1982 29,115 14.1 Unemployed claimants October 1982 27,467 13.7 March 1983 27,557 13.7 The net effect of the changed method of compiling figures is shown, for October 1982, by the difference between the two figures shown above for that month. The difference would not be the same for other months, but it is not possible to estimate the effect after October.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many firms have gone out of business in Stoke-on-Trent in the last three years.
§ Mr. GummerThere are no complete statistics on firms going out of business. However, 40* closures of establishments, each associated with 10 or more redundancies, were confirmed as due to occur between 1 April 1980 and 31 March 1983 in the Stoke-on-Trent travel-to-work area.
Table 1. Employees in employment in the iron and steel industry in Great Britain Thousands June 1964 June 1970 June 1971 June 1974 June 1978 June 1979 June 1980 June 1981 September 1981 June 1982* December 1982* † MLH 311 308.0 288.0 268.9 244.3 215.0 205.9 179.6 137.2 132.0 121.9 113.6 MLH 312 59.0 56.0 53.8 51.3 49.2 47.6 40.7 33.2 33.8 33.4 31.3 MLH 313 116.0 104.0 98.5 85.7 75.1 70.8 65.9 54.4 52.7 49.6 45.5 * Provisional. † Latest available date. 344W
Table 2. Employees in employment in the iron and steel industry in the regions of England Thousands Region June 1971 June 1974 June 1978 September 1981† South East MLH 311 4.3 4.6 4.9 5 MLH 312 2.8 2.8 2.7 4 MLH 313 11.3 9.8 5.4 4 East Anglia MLH 311 * * 0.2 1 MLH 312 * * * * MLH 313 * * 0.4 * South West MLH 311 * 1.4 1.4 1 MLH 312 * * 0.9 1 MLH 313 1.9 2.0 2.6 1 West Midlands MLH 311 30.6 25.9 25.8 13 MLH 312 20.2 18.4 17.9 13 MLH 313 30.6 27.1 27.5 17
* This is a provisional figure, based on information available on 25 April 1983.