§ Sir Ralph HowellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the latest estimate of the overall cost of unemployment including all expenditure on training and all Government initiatives to reduce unemployment and also including all state support such as housing benefit, mortgage interest relief and all passport benefits paid whilst unemployed or undertaking unemployment reducing training and other programmes.
§ Mr. PortilloThe overall cost of unemployment is highly sensitive to the factors which cause that unemployment and cannot be estimated on the basis specified in the question.