§ Earl Russellasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Secretary of State for Education and Employment's statement (in the Observer of 14 January) that "jobs are there for the taking in most parts of the country", what percentage of the registered unemployed live in constituencies where unemployment is above (a) 10 per cent and (b) 8 per cent. [HL369]
§ Baroness BlackstoneI n December 2000, 8.5 per cent of all claimant unemployed people in the UK were in the 27 constituencies where the unemployment rate was above 10 per cent and 17 per cent were in the 62 constituencies where the unemployment rate was above 8 per cent.
There are new jobs coming up all the time, either in neighbouring areas which may be centres of employment opportunity or, indeed, in the constituencies themselves. The Government's welfare to work policies aim to match jobless people with these jobs.