§ 5. Mr. Thomas Coxasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the present number of industrial training centres in Northern Ireland; and what was the number existing in the years 1965, 1970 and 1972.
§ Mr. van StraubenzeeThere are now 12 Government training centres in Northern Ireland; in 1965, 1970 and 1972 there were three, 10 and 11, respectively.
§ Mr. CoxI thank the hon. Gentleman for that reply and welcome the progress that is being made. He will be aware of the Question that I asked last week on unemployment. Will he therefore tell the House how many of those 12 training centres cover areas away from the principal cities in Northern Ireland? Is he satisfied with the kind of allowances that are paid to people attending training centres to cover such things as travelling, which unfortunately acts as a deterrent in this country? Will he make sure that it does not act as a deterrent in Northern Ireland to people going for industrial training?
§ Mr. van StraubenzeeI have taken a personal interest in training centres, as the hon. Gentleman would expect. I have visited a number of them. I believe the provisions for travel to be appropriate in the circumstances. What is more, there are grants for those people who have to move to different areas of employment, because of the special situation. There are problems with some about access for one community or another, for all the reasons which the hon. Gentleman understands. That is why it is important, for example, that in West Belfast, or accessible to West Belfast, there should be a new training centre which will be in operation next year but with advance accommodation earlier than that.