HC Deb 28 July 1988 vol 138 cc449-51W
Mr. McLeish

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the total number of people classified as employees in employment for each quarter December 1986 to March 1988 inclusive, as defined prior to the introduction of the concept of the civilian work force in employment in June 1988.

Mr. Lang

The table gives the latest estimates of the number of employees in employment, the definition of which has not been affected by the introduction of the concept of the civilian work force in employment.

Employees in employment
Thousands
Scotland Unadjusted for seasonal variation Seasonally adjusted
1986
December 1,874 1,874
1987
March 1,862 1,876
June 1,886 1,880
September 1,879 1,871
December 1,877 1,878
1988
March 1,868 1,882

Mr. McLeish

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the impact of the new work force definition of including training scheme participants as employees on(a) the monthly percentage unemployment rate and (b) the number of employees in employment.

Mr. Lang

For Scotland as a whole the unemployment rate on the work force basis is, on average, 0.2 percentage points lower than the unemployment rate calculated on the previous basis, which did not include participants on work-related Government training programmes in the denominator. The definition of employees in employment has not been changed.

Mr. McLeish

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give an estimate of the impact the new adult training programme and withdrawal of general entitlement to benefit for young people under 18 years, w;ill have on the monthly unemployment figures, claimant count, after November.

Mr. Lang

Plans are for some 41,000 filled places under employment training in Scotland, in comparison to some 35,000 under existing adult programmes. It will of course take some time for employment training to become fully established.

As regards income support changes, there are currently around 21,000 claimants aged under 18 on average included in the count for Scotland, of whom some 14,000 are school leavers who are already excluded from the seasonally adjusted series. The majority of these will no longer be entitled to benefit.