§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many (a) men, (b) women and (c) young people in (i) Merseyside and (ii) Knowsley, North who have been unemployed for over 12 months and who are registering for work are not in receipt of the long-term supplementary rates.
§ Dr. BoysonThe long-term supplementary benefit rates are not payable to unemployed claimants under 60. At December 1982, the latest date for which information is available, it is estimated that 48,000 unemployed men and 10,000 unemployed women aged 16 and over had been unemployed and in receipt of supplementary benefit at the ordinary rate for 12 months or more in the Merseyside social security region. A reliable estimate of the number of young people aged 16 to 18 in this category cannot be made. Reliable estimates cannot be made for Knowsley, North.