§ Mr. Ewingasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many young people in Scotland have been placed in industries directly connected with North Sea oil by the youth employment service;
(2) how many inquiries for apprentices have been received by youth employment officers in Scotland from firms engaged in the exploration and development of North Sea oil.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithThe Department's statistics of young people placed in employment and of notified vacancies for young people do not distinguish separately placings and apprenticeship vacancies with firms directly connected with North Sea oil; the information requested is, therefore not available.
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§ Mr. Ewingasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many apprenticeships he expects to accrue to December, 1973 as a result of the discovery of North Sea oil;
(2) how many apprenticeships have accrued to the nearest available date in firms directly involved in the exploration and development of North Sea oil.
§ Mr. Chichester-ClarkInformation about the number of apprenticeships in firms directly involved in the exploration and development of North Sea oil is not available. Employment on oil rigs and platforms themselves does not readily lend itself to apprenticeship schemes and skilled labour is mostly being obtained by conversion training for adults. The numbers of young people being trained by firms engaged in the supply and servicing of oil rigs, and in their construction, are no doubt higher than they would be in the absence of North Sea oil operations, but by how much it is impossible to say.