HC Deb 03 February 1972 vol 830 cc659-60
13. Mr. Fidler

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many of the 100,000 unfilled vacancies in the hotel and catering industry have now been filled; and what plans he has for retraining unemployed persons with no previous experience in that industry to fill these vacancies as a contribution to the utilisation of those at present unemployed.

Mr. Bryan

During 1971, 168,000 adults were placed in hotel and catering occupations by employment exchanges. On 1st December, 1971, unfilled vacancies in these occupations notified to these offices totalled approximately 7,500. Training facilities provided by the Government are being expanded and courses in a range of relevant skills are in operation or planned in Government training centres, colleges of further education and with employers.

Mr. Fidler

I thank my hon. Friend for that information and welcome the proposals in the "Training for the Future" document issued by his Department. Is he aware of the statistical information I received yesterday from the Director of the British Hotels and Restaurants Association indicating that the hotel and catering industry, which employs 414,000 people in hotels, 285,000 in restaurants and 450,000 in catering, including industrial catering, had a shortfall of 8 per cent. of the total at the last count? That represents 93,000 vacancies, two-thirds of which are unskilled or semiskilled. Bearing that in mind, will my hon. Friend do his best to ensure a reassessment of job opportunities to replace the term "servile" by "service"? Will he undertake a drive to get people into the industry so that they can take advantage of the employment opportunities?

Mr. Bryan

Recruiting is very much the responsibility of the industry, which is a thriving growth industry. My Department will certainly co-operate as much as it can and we are already doing so in training. The best co-operation we could receive from the employers is the registration of more of their vacancies. We have 7,500 vacancies registered, but from what my hon. Friend says it is obvious that many have not been registered.