asked the Paymaster General how many people have been unemployed for (a) six months and (b) a year or more compared with a year ago; and if he will make a statement.

In the year to January 1987, the number of people unemployed for over six months has fallen by about 10,000 and the number unemployed for over a year has fallen by about 20,000.

asked the Paymaster General what is the current level of unemployment in (a) Thurrock and (b) the south-east.

On 8 January 1987, the numbers of unemployed claimants in the Thurrock local authority district and the South East region were 7,419 and 774,062 respectively.

asked the Paymaster General what is the total number of people employed in Britain as a proportion of the number of adults aged between 16 and 65 years.

It is estimated from the labour force survey conducted in the spring of 1985 that at that time there were 23,350,000 persons aged 16 and under 65 in paid employment, representing 66·9 per cent. of all persons aged 16 and under 65 in Great Britain.

asked the Paymaster General what is his estimate of the actual number of people who are currently seeking employment.

According to the results of the labour force survey in the spring of 1985, there were 2·81 million people in Great Britain without a job who had sought work in the week prior to the survey.

asked the Paymaster General what is the number of 18 to 25-year-olds who are unemployed.

On 8 January 1987, the number of unemployed claimants between the ages of 18 and 24 (not available aged 25 years) in the United Kingdom was 970,551.

asked the Paymaster General how many people have been unemployed for more than 12 months at the latest available date; and what percentage of the total unemployed this represents.

On 8 January 1987, the number of claimants in the United Kingdom who had been unemployed for over 12 months was 1,334,430 which represents 40·5 per cent. of the total unemployed.

asked the Paymaster General how many young people, under 25 years of age, are unemployed in Coventry, the west midlands and nationally; of those how many have been unemployed for more than one, two, three, four and five years; and if he will make a statement.

The following information is in the Library. The table shows the numbers of unemployed claimants aged under 25 years in the Coventry local authority district, the west midlands region and the United Kingdom on 8 January 1987, who had been unemployed for the durations requested.