§ Mr. Winnickasked the Paymaster General if, following the answer on 25 November to the hon. Member for Walsall, North regarding unemployment statistics, he will give so much of the information requested in the original questions as was not included in the reply.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkThe answer of 25 November included all the available information requested in the original questions. Increases in unemployment since 1979 are not available for the black country as defined in the answer, because comparable data are not available, following the introduction of the ward-based system for allocating claimants to locations and the change in boundaries of travel-to-work areas. My Department has recently made available estimates of the number of unemployed in the United Kingdom and in each region, which takes account of all the discontinuities in the collection process since 1971. However, it would not be practical to extend these calculations to smaller areas.