§ Q1. Sir Gilbert Longdenasked the Prime Minister if he is satisfied with the co-ordination between the Secretaries of State for Employment, the Environment and Social Services in respect of the retraining and subsequent placing in alternative employment of redundant workers; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Edward Heath)Yes, Sir. Numbers in training under the Government Vocational Training Scheme have increased from 9,000 to 15,000 in the past nine months. Under the new Training Opportunities Scheme we aim to provide a far wider selection of vocational courses and to train 60,000–70,000 men and women a year by 1975, increasing to 100,000 a year as soon as possible after that.
§ Sir Gilbert LongdenWhile thanking my right hon. Friend for that reply, may I ask him whether he agrees that every year, with relentless inevitability, more and more people find themselves unemployed because of automation, with the resulting problems of retraining, the use of increased leisure, shift work and mobility of labour? Are not these among the most urgent and difficult problems facing the Government today?
§ The Prime MinisterI agree that the technological changes in industry will require training for different skills and retraining for those already working in industry. We have already made considerable progress with this. Various forms of training centre and colleges of further education and so on can provide training for about 30,000 men and women a year. It is of interest that over 90 per cent. of the places at Government training centres are currently taken up. During 1971, as a result of the action taken to encourage firms in assisted areas to engage or retrain workers, about 50,000 men and women were helped. Already substantial progress is being made.
§ Mr. KaufmanIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that in the Greater Manchester area more than 4,000 workers are subject to the provisions of retraining dealt with in his hon. Friend's Question, due to the announced closing of Churchill Machine Tools at Altrincham and also of the Irlam Steel Works? Is he further aware that both of these establishments could have been saved under Clause 7 of the Industry Bill at a fraction of the cost of retraining, redundancy payments and the unemployment pay that will be required? Why did the Government not save Irlam and Churchill?
§ The Prime MinisterThe hon. Gentleman knows that the question of Irlam and Churchill was not one directly for the Government. What is important is that where changes are coming about the training and retraining facilities should be available. These are now being greatly increased and what is encouraging is to find that more than 90 per cent. of them are in use.