§ Mr. McAllionTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people were registered as unemployed in Scotland on 1 October 1981; and what was the total on 1 October 1986.
§ Mr. LangThe information is not available in the precise form requested. In October 1981 the number of unemployed claimants in Scotland was 302,362. The corresponding figure for October 1986 was 359,236. Due to changes which have taken place in the compilation of the statistics during the period these figures are not directly comparable.