§ 14. Mr. Crouchasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many grants have been paid to employers for the training of newly recruited workers over 45 years of age, in intermediate and development areas since the introduction of the scheme.
§ Mr. BryanUp to June, 1971, 628 applications had been received, and grants to employers in respect of 208 workers have been paid to date.
§ Mr. CrouchI am grateful to my hon. Friend for that answer. Does he appreciate—I am sure that the House does—that this scheme is valuable in encouraging employers to take on older workers? As this will become an increasing problem in our society, will my hon. Friend take steps to expand the scheme—and certainly the publicity given to it?
§ Mr. BryanI agree with my hon. Friend about the value of the scheme. This is one of the several schemes brought in by my right hon. Friend to help train unemployed persons. It deals with the narrow category of men and women over 45 years of age who have been unemployed for two months. The objective is to persuade employers to give preference to this difficult category. I agree that we must step up our publicity. Already we have issued explanatory leaflets to all employers and had publicity through the Press and local radio stations. I agree that the scheme needs the maximum publicity.
§ Mr. RoseIs the hon. Gentleman aware that hon. Members on this side of the House strongly support the scheme and its expansion? Will he explain, however, what is the use of training people in an area like the North-West, where unemployment has soared to frightening levels and is even catching up with the levels in the most depressed regions and, 769 by the end of the year, is likely to overtake them? Is he aware that if we are to have training it must go hand-in-hand with a policy to expand job opportunities?
§ Mr. BryanI do not agree with the hon. Member's view that there is little point in training people at times of high unemployment. If a man is unemployed it is far better for him to receive training, because he gets far more satisfaction in increasing his skills, even if a job is not immediately available.