§ 25. Mr. Tilneyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many apprentices in trades needed by the hospital service have been taken on in each of the last three years in development areas.
§ Mr. AlisonInformation in the form requested is not readily available. Following are particulars of respectively apprentices in hospital building and engineering maintenance trades and trainee cooks in post on 30th September 1972: Newcastle area 27 and 42; Liverpool area 18 and 11; and South Western area 11 and 31.
§ Mr. TilneyAre not these figures rather small? Would it not be possible to take on more apprentices, especially in such areas as Merseyside, where there is so much unemployment among youth?
§ Mr. AlisonThe need for trainees and apprentices obviously varies according to local requirements and is determined by hospital authorities. It would be wrong to take them on if there was no real work for them to do, simply in response to unemployment figures. However, I will weigh what my hon. Friend has said and direct his inquiries to the regional hospital board.
§ Mr. LoughlinIs it not true that the inability to attract apprentices to the hospital service derives mainly from the miserable wages they would receive on completion of their apprenticeship? Before we look at apprenticeships in the hospital service, would it not be better to look at the general wage levels in the service?
§ Mr. AlisonThat is another question and one which, as the hon. Gentleman will know from his previous occupation 220 of my post, falls to the relevant Whitley Council.