asked the Secretary of State for Employment how much was paid out in (a) unemployment benefit and (b) redundancy payments in 1980 and in 1981, respectively.

Expenditure on unemployment benefit was about £1,056 million in 1980 and about £1,880 million in 1981. Payments from the redundancy fund in rebates to employers and direct payments to employees totalled £221 million in 1980 and £416 million in 1981.