asked the Secretary of State for Employment what would be the numerical result of applying the Government's new method of collating unemployment statistics to those of other members of the European Community.

Information on which to base an estimate is not available.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what is the number of the unemployed under 21 years of age in the west midlands; what were the figures in January 1979, January 1980, January 1981 and January 1982, respectively; and if he will express the differences in percentage terms;(2) what is the number of the unemployed in the west midlands under 21 years of age who have been unemployed for over 12 months; what were the figures in January 1979, January 1980, January 1981 and January 1982, respectively; and if he will express the differences in percentage terms.

The following is the information for those aged under 20 years (under 21 not available) at the dates specified and at October 1981 and October 1982, the latest date for which an analysis by age and duration of unemployment is available. The figures are on the old (registration) basis of the unemployment count.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the total number of unemployed claimants in Suffolk with the percentage rate of unemployment, for each jobcentre area.

The following table gives the total number of unemployed claimants at 9 December 1982 in each of the jobcentre areas in Suffolk. It also gives the percentage rates of unemployment for the areas, either singly or grouped to form travel-to-work areas.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the current rates of unemployment among the seven major industrialised countries.

The latest available seasonally adjusted standardised unemployment rates estimated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what percentage of unemployed persons is under 25 years of age.

At 14 October 1982, the latest date for which an age analysis is available, 39·5 per cent. of all registered unemployed people (the old basis of the unemployment count) in the United Kingdom were under 25 years of age.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many 16 to 19-year-olds are unemployed at the nearest available date.

At 14 October 1982, the latest date for which an age analysis is available, there were 655,295 young people aged under 20 years registered as unemployed in the United Kingdom. The figure is on the old (registration) basis of the unemployment count.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many in (a) the west midlands, (b) the black country area and (c) the Walsall travel-to-work area have now been unemployed for over 12 months; and if he will give the figures for January 1979, January 1980, January 1981 and January 1982, respectively, and the differences in percentage terms.

[pursuant to his reply, 27 January 1983, c. 509]: The following is the information at the dates specified and at October 1981 and October 1982, the latest date for which an analysis by duration of unemployment is available. The figures are on the old (registration) basis of the unemployment count.