asked the Paymaster General if he will give the gross figure of persons claiming unemployment benefit and the percentage of the work force which this represents in (a) Yorkshire and Humberside, (b) Barnsley metropolitan district area and (c) Barnsley West and Penistone for each month since May 1979.

Following is the available information which is also in the Library. The table shows the numbers of unemployed people claiming benefits at unemployment benefit offices who are resident in the Barnsley local authority district and the Barnsley, West and Penistone parliamentary constituency in each month from June 1983. The comparisons are affected by changes in the coverage of the data. Unemployment rates cannot be produced because equivalent estimates of the work force are not available for these areas. A consistent series of the numbers of unemployed claimants in the Yorkshire and Humberside region for each month since May 1979, adjusted for discontinuities and seasonality, are also given, together with the corresponding unemployment rates expressed as a percentage of the working population.