§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment what upward adjustment is now needed on the figures supplied to the right hon. Member for 58W Doncaster in the reply of 18 July 1980, Official Report, c. 732, on the average cost to public funds of each unemployed mineworker.
§ Mr. AlisonThe figures supplied to the right hon. Member in the reply on 18 July 1980 were based upon estimates made in 1979 which embodied a number of uncertain assumptions. It would not be possible to produce a realistic estimate of the present cost to public funds of unemployed mineworkers without making further assumptions going beyond the question of direct payments made to them. The range of possible assumptions concerning other factors bearing on the cost is so great that no single figure could be considered to have any meaning.