asked the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion the latest figures for unemployment in Hillingdon bear to the comparable figures in 1971; and what steps he is taking to reduce the number unemployed.

In the Uxbridge, Hayes and Ruislip Employment Exchange areas, which include the London Borough of Hillingdon, the number of people registered as unemployed at January, 1972, was 71·2 per cent. higher than a year earlier. The Greater London area, of which Hillingdon forms part, has persistently had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. It is now 2 per cent., and when the very extensive measures we have introduced have had a chance to take effect, I am sure that unemployment in Hillingdon will be reduced.