HC Deb 29 January 1997 vol 289 c260W
32. Mr. Berry

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people have claimed an unemployment-related benefit since April 1992. [11760]

Mr. Forth

The following table shows the numbers of people who have experienced at least one spell of claimant unemployment in Great Britain in each year since 1992. The numbers rose up to 1993 but have since fallen substantially.

Year Claimants (million)
1 January to 31 December 1992 5.30
1 January to 31 December 1993 5.35
1 January to 31 December 1994 5.03
1 January to 31 December 1995 4.59
13 December 1995 to 12 December 19961 4.21
1 Latest available.

The number of people who have experienced at least one spell of claimant unemployment in Great Britain since April 1992 is 10,167,860. This figure is much less than the total for individual years because people may experience unemployment in more than one year.