§ Mr. Winnickasked the Secretary of State for Employment why he has changed his practice in respect of answering questions relating to statistics on unemployment; if he will now make it his practice to publish in the Official Report the details sought by hon. Members on unemployment statistics; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkI wrote to the hon. Gentleman about this subject on 19 October and apprised him of the arrangements made to provide prompter, comprehensive access by hon. Members to unemployment statistics. One consequence is that parliamentary written questions seeking information which could be obtained from the computer data base through the House of Commons Library will be referred to the Library.
My right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales have agreed that similar arrangements shall apply in respect of unemployment statistics relating to their areas, and to adopt a similar practice with regard to parliamentary questions. They have already written to all Members with constituencies in Scotland and Wales respectively. Detailed information on Northern Ireland will continue to be provided as at present by the Northern Ireland Office.
The new arrangements include a computer databank of the relevant information, including information back to June 1983 for parliamentary constituencies, local authorities and the new travel-to-work areas. A terminal link is now available in the House of Commons Library. This facility will provide more convenient and speedier access to data previously only available through this Department.
The new system is being introduced in stages. Until the middle of 1985, data available through the terminal will relate only to parliamentary constituencies, local authority districts, counties, travel-to-work areas and job centre areas as well as national and regional figures. Disaggregation by age and duration of unemployment will
260W
§ Mr. Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table covering the last 10 separate years which shows the number of complaints made in England, Wales and Scotland, respectively, to the Wages Inspectorate about employers paying under the statutory rates set by wages councils; and if he will show the number of prosecutions and the number of convictions.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyThe figures requested are given in the following table:
not be initially available for parliamentary constituencies, local authority districts, or new travel-to-work areas. By the middle of 1985, however, individual ward data will be available, thus information will be available via the computer for any area capable of definition in terms of local authority wards. Simple analyses, for example, ranking areas, are also available.