asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many people were unemployed in the United Kingdom: at the most recent count; and if he will make a statement.

At 10th March 1,383,773 people were registered as unemployed in the United Kingdom. This figure is provisional. The fall in unemployment, for the second month in succession, is encouraging and may well be in part a result of the success of the Government's special measures. I would, however, wish to see a downward trend over some months before believing that we are over the hump.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what further steps he is taking to reduce unemployment: and if he will make a statement.

I announced measures to reduce unemployment as recently as 3rd March 1977. Further to that, I would refer my hon. Friend to my right hon. Friend's Budget Statement earlier to day.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what were the figures for registered adult unemployed persons in the Greater London area in each of the years from 1970 to 1976, inclusive.

Age analyses of the numbers unemployed are made in respect of January and July each year. The available information is:

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is, in arithmetical terms, the progress that has been made since March 1974 towards the Government's election commitment to the reduction of unemployment.

Unfortunately, none.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what were the levels of unemployment in August 1945, March 1950. October 1951, June 1955, October 1959, November 1964, April 1966, July 1970, December 1973, March 1974, October 1974, and at the latest available date.

The information available is as follows. The present series of statistics commenced in 1948 and earlier information is not strictly comparable. The following table shows the numbers registered as unemployed in Great Britain, excluding school leavers and seasonally adjusted, together with the corresponding rates of unemployment.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what were the totals for unemployment in England and Wales in each of the years from 1970 to 1976; and, of these, what proportion in each year took place in the first three months of the year.

The numbers registered as unemployed are counted on a selected day in each month and the figures in column I are the averages of all monthly counts made in each year. Column 2 gives the averages of the counts made in January, February and March only and these are expressed as percentages of the annual averages in column 3.