§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the level of unemployment in each sector in the Ayr, Girvan and Sanquhar travel-to-work areas in 1979 and 1986 respectively.
§ Mr. LangThe only available information is from the 1981 to 1984 censuses of employment, and is shown in the table. The estimates for individual travel-to-work areas are subject to sampling errors, and are dependent on the level of detail supplied by the respondent. In particular, in the 1984 census it has been possible to allocate a number of teachers and other local authority employees to the travel-to-work area of their work place, whereas they were counted at the Ayr headquarters in 1981; this has been a major factor in the reduction in the recorded number of employees in services in Ayr.
Friend, has been instructed to carry out a feasibility study in respect of a Girvan bypass. The report of the council is not expected until later this year and I would not wish to comment in advance of that.