§ Ms. RichardsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) whether, in the light of the Equal Opportunities Commission's recent report, he will consider seeking to repeal the two-year qualifying period for unfair dismissal;
(2) whether, in the light of the Equal Opportunities Commission's recent report, he will consider introducing legislation to prevent employers from imposing qualifying periods of employment for a woman to have the right to return to work after pregnancy.
§ Mr. NichollsThe Equal Opportunities Commission's proposals were published on 8 March. I shall be giving them careful consideration.
§ Mr. McTaggartTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what information he has on the number of long-term unemployed people in(a) Glasgow, (b) Scotland and (c) the United Kingdom, who have difficulty returning to employment because of problems of literacy, numeracy or language.
§ Mr. Nicholls[holding answer 3 March 1988]: The information is not available in the form requested.
Information collected in January 1987 through the restart programme revealed that in Scotland 6 per cent. of those unemployed for six months or more seen by restart counsellors and 11.9 per cent. of those on restart courses had problems with literacy and numeracy. Those problems may have contributed to their difficulty in returning to employment. Comparable figures for Great Britain are 10.3 per cent. of those counselled and 25.2 per cent. of those on restart courses. Separate figures are not available for the Glasgow area. The restart survey also suggested that language problems were experienced by unemployed people, particularly in large conurbations.