asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is his estimate of the likely increase in unemployment; and if he will make a statement.

We have not sought to disguise the fact that, whatever measures we take, there is likely to be some further increase in seasonally adjusted unemployment over the next few months, though the Government will, of course, continue to do everything in their power to improve the situation. We cannot expect a sustained and substantial decline in unemployment until inflation has been subdued and world economic activity has revived.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing the unemployment rate for each local employment area in Great Britain where the rate exceeds 10 per cent.

Following is the information at January 1976:

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what has been the percentage increase in unemployment in each assisted area and each non-assisted area since the boundaries of such areas were last reviewed.

The following table shows information for each assisted area separately and for non-assisted standard regions or parts of regions: