Manpower Services Commission (Hansard, 6 June 1978)

§ 7. Mr. Silvester
asked the Secretary of State for Employment when he next expects to meet the chairman of the Manpower Services Commission.

§ 9. Mr. Madel
asked the Secretary of State for Employment when he next plans to meet the chairman of the Manpower Services Commission.

§ 21. Mr. Haselhurst
asked the Secretary of State for Employment when he will meet next the chairman of the Manpower Services Commission.

§ Mr. Booth
I am in constant touch with the chairman of the Manpower Services Commission.

§ Mr. Silvester
In one of the moments when the right hon. Gentleman is in touch, will he consider the problems of those over the age of 40 who are now unemployed? Much of the work of the Commission is related to young people out of work, but unemployment among the over-40s is a growing and considerable problem. Will he consider what is being done in that area?

§ Mr. Booth
The hon. Gentleman will be glad to know that, with unusual foresight, I anticipated his question. I discussed the matter with the chairman of the Manpower Services Commission two months ago. At my suggestion, the Commission has in hand a study of the problems of older unemployed people. It is attempting to implement a pilot scheme to see whether there are any counselling aids that can be brought to bear on the problem. I expect to have a report from the MSC, which has considered this subject in depth, by the early autumn.

§ Mr. Madel
As labour shortages are beginning to appear in skillcentres in the electrical engineering section of the car industry, resulting in intense competition for labour, will the Secretary of State ask the chairman of the MSC how the Commission intends to overcome the shortage of technicians and supervisors in order that the youth opportunities programme can get off the ground in September?

§ Mr. Booth
The chairman of the MSC has had discussions with the chairmen of 17 all the industrial training boards. I have considered with him the way in which the industrial training boards can best assess the future skill needs of the respective industries. We must accept that anything we can do in the next year will be by way of first aid to remedy failures and to make the decisions which should have been taken four or five years ago to step up industrial training at that time. We shall do as much as we can within the training opportunities scheme in particular, and we should extend current courses supported through the industrial training boards. But I am afraid that in respect of the higher skills such action will not have a great deal of bearing on immediate shortages.

§ Mr. Haselhurst
Will the right hon. Gentleman discuss with the chairman of the MSC contingency plans for dealing with the situation under which young people, having undertaken the maximum of a year's course under the youth opportunities programme, may, as a result of factors such as the state of the economy and continuing trends towards automation, find themselves still largely unskilled and totally unemployed?

§ Mr. Booth
That matter is within the area of the broader discussions with the Commission, but some of the measures we are taking to ensure jobs for young people when they complete their youth opportunities programme courses are the direct responsibility of my Department and are not run by the Commission. Such schemes as the job release scheme and the small firms employment subsidy, which will make more jobs available for young people, are a complement to the youth opportunities programme.

§ Mr. Rooker
When my right hon. Friend next meets the Chairman of the MSC, will he ask what he is doing about those expensively situated job shops and jobcentres in city centre premises and what he intends to do to open them on Saturdays?

§ Mr. Booth
The chairman of the MSC and all the commissioners are keeping under constant surveillance the way in which they can best serve those who are seeking to obtain or change jobs through the jobcentres. My hon. Friend will be pleased to know that they have a much better record than the old exchanges which they replaced.

§ Mr. Ioan Evans
Since the by-elections a, Hamilton and Garscadden show that the people have more faith in the Labour Government in solving the problem of unemployment than they have in any other Government, will my right hon. Friend recognise that unemployment is still the main problem that faces the nation? Therefore, when he next meets the chairman of the MSC will he have a long discussion with him to get the youth opportunities programme off the ground so that we may make an immediate effort to get young people out of the dole queues and into jobs?

§ Mr. Booth
Yes. This is a matter I have discussed with the chairman of the MSC. He spends a great deal of his time in ensuring that the various area boards of the youth opportunities programme have maximum support from the Commission and that they will achieve the very high targets which have been set for the programme.

§ Mr. Ralph Howell
Will the Minister ask the chairman of the MSC to give serious consideration to the proposition which I put to him that the sea defences at the village of Salthouse and other places in the United Kingdom should qualify as projects suitable for job creation? Is he aware of the ludicrous situation which exists within one mile of Salthouse where the MSC is helping to re-lay a model steam railway yet refuses to assist in sea defence work?

§ Mr. Booth
I shall look into the particular case that the hon. Member has mentioned. I shall do so with keen interest because I have a sea defences problem in my constituency which might be solved by the same means.
The main reason why we distinguish in the new youth opportunities programme between job creation schemes which we are now reserving mainly for adults and schemes which are training projects is that we believe it is necessary to have a higher educational and training content in the schemes for unemployed school leavers.

§ Mr. Ronald Atkins
Is my right hon. Friend aware that the problem of redundant middle-aged workers has been apparent for a long time? The Manpower Services Commission should be doing more than looking into it. It 19 should be taking action, particularly on the difficulties of contracts of employment, which often operate against middle-aged workers.

§ Mr. Booth
I share my hon. Friend's concern. Because the Manpower Services Commission—for the best possible motive—does not want to label any particular group of people as long-term unemployed, it has hesitated in tackling this problem before. I have discussed this matter with the chairman. This is something upon which the Commission is acting with the facilities it has available and for which it will produce some proposals as a result of a full survey of the problem.