§ 53. Mr. Marquandasked the Minister of Labour how many school leavers who are the children of Commonwealth immigrants have been placed by the Youth Employment Service in skilled jobs; and what proportion this figure constitutes of the total number of school leavers in that category.
§ The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour (Mr. E. Fernyhough)Youth Employment Service statistics do not distinguish between children of Commonwealth immigrants and other school leavers. I would, however, refer my hon. Friend to the speech of my hon. Friend, the then Parliamentary Secretary, on the Motion for the Adjournment, on Thursday, 8th December.—[Vol. 737, c. 1720–26.]
§ Mr. MarquandI congratulate my hon. Friend on his first appearance at the Dispatch Box. Does not he agree that the Answer which he has given shows that it really is necessary to acquire statistics about this matter and that if we are seriously to combat the evils of racial discrimination in employment we need 973 to particularise the statistics much more than we have done up to now?
§ Mr. FernyhoughAn inquiry carried out by the Youth Employment Service has shown that these immigrant school leavers who wished to obtain apprenticeships and who had obtained the required standards have mostly been able to do so, although this often involved considerable additional work on the part of youth employment officers.