asked the Paymaster General whether he will state for (a) Manchester and (b) the United Kingdom the number and percentage of (i) men and (ii) women who have been deemed unavailable for work; and of these, how many decisions were based upon the person having child care responsibilities.

some claimants have always been disallowed benefit by independent statutory adjudicating authorities in accordance with long-standing legal rules adopted by successive Governments because they were not available for work. If the hon. Member is asking how many claims have been disallowed in this way since we introduced modified procedures to enforce the rules, the answer as on 27 February 1987 was 72 in the Manchester city council area and 8,866 nationally.These disallowances represent 0·5 per cent. of all those completing the modified availability form in the Manchester area and 1·1 per cent. nationally. Our records do not separately distinguish between the sexes or those with child care responsibilities.