§ Mr. Wattsasked the Paymaster General if he will list in the Official Report travel-to-work areas with an 350W unemployment rate of 8 per cent. or less and the number of unemployed persons registered at each jobcentre in such areas.
§ Mr. LangThe following table shows those travel-to-work areas which, on 9 January 1986, had an unemployment rate of 8 per cent. or less. Jobcentre boundaries do not coincide with travel-to-work areas; moreover registrants at jobcentres do not distinguish the unemployed from employed people seeking a change of employment.
Unemployment rates for travel-to-work areas—January 1986 Travel-to-work area Unemployment rate—per cent. Winchester and Eastleigh 5.5 Crawley 5.9 Clitheroe 6.0 Aylesbury and Wycombe 6.5 Basingstoke and Alton 6.6 Aberdeen 6.7 Shetland Islands 6.8 Cambridge 6.9 Guildford and Aldershot 6.9 Slough 7.1 Tunbridge Wells 7.3 Bury St. Edmunds 7.4 Heathrow 7.7 Oxford 7.9 Malton 8.0 Reading 8.0
§ Mr. Wattsasked the Paymaster General how many unemployed persons have been registered voluntarily at jobcentres (a) for up to three months, (b) for between three and six months and (c) for more than six months at the latest available date.
§ Mr. LangThe information requested is not available. Analysis of registrations at jobcentres by duration is not carried out. Moreover figures of registrants at jobcentres do not distinguish the unemployed from employed people seeking a change of employment.
§ Mr. Wattsasked the Paymaster General if he will list in the Official Report those travel-to-work areas in which his Department has identified a significant shortage of skilled labour.
§ Mr. TrippierMy Department does not collect information identifying significant shortages of skilled labour. The Manpower Services Commission does conduct a survey of those vacancies at jobcentres that have remained unfilled for more than two months. The results provide an indication of areas of skill shortage both geographically and by occupation. The latest survey was completed in September 1985 and I will write to my hon. Friend again shortly when results by travel-to-work area have been prepared.
351W
§ Mr. Altonasked the Paymaster General whether information on the previous occupation of the unemployed, their skill levels and their potential for skill upgrading is made available to the Manpower Services Commission and to local education authorities; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LangInformation on the previous occupation for the unemployed has not been available from the claimant count since October 1982. However the annual labour force survey collects information on the previous occupation of people looking for work who have been out of employment for less than three years but only at regional and national level. This information is made available to the Manpower Services Commission. It is also available to the local education authorities on request.
The survey does not provide information on skills levels or the potential for skills upgrading for the unemployed, and my Department has no other information on these topics at the present time.
§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Paymaster General if he will list by postal code areas the numbers of (a) men and (b) women unemployed in the York constituency for 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986 in January of each year.
§ Mr. LangThe information requested is not available. Postal code areas cannot readily be linked to constituencies, which are defined in terms of wards. However, figures for local authority wards from June 1983 are available in the Library.