HC Deb 22 January 1980 vol 977 cc175-7
1. Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what measures he intends to take to extend employment and training opportunities for women.

The Under-Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. Jim Lester)

I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the MSC's training opportunities scheme will continue to provide a wide range of courses for all of which women are eligible equally with men. In addition the commission is currently sponsoring a number of training and research initiatives specifically designed to encourage the training and employment of women in fields in which comparatively few have hitherto been employed. These are at present on only a small scale but it is hoped they will be capable of wider application. A working party set up by the MSC has recently produced a report about ways in which its special programmes might be developed to meet the needs of women and girls, and the MSC will be following this up.

Mrs. Short

I thank the Minister for the last part of his answer. It is good news that the Government are taking on board the need to train women in new skills. However, is the Minister aware that a serious situation is developing where large numbers of women with jobs in service industries and in the public service—who are generally badly paid anyway—are losing work opportunities?

The cuts in the resources of the Manpower Services Commission are bound to reduce the training opportunities available to men and women. The fact that large numbers of poorer families rely on the wages of the mother to keep the family's head above water highlights the problem. Will the Minister see that adequate resources are made available to deal specifically with the issue of women's unemployment?

Mr. Lester

It is clear from my answer that the Government are conscious of the fact that women need to be trained for a wider range of opportunities than they have been in the past. It might please the hon. Lady to know that placings for women far exceed those for men, as do registrations on the register.

Mr. Stanbrook

In view of the present high level of unemployment would it not be right to give preference to breadwinners—

Mrs. Short

Women often are breadwinners.

Mr. Stanbrook

Would it not be better to give preference to breadwinners rather than to women as a class? May I ask my hon. Friend to bear in mind the necessity for breadwinners to be employed, rather than that opportunities are given to married women and mothers to go out to work?

Mr. Lester

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. It is difficult in this day and age to define who is a breadwinner. Clearly, many women are breadwinners in their own right, and for many families two wages are essential to meet their needs.

Mr. George

Does the Minister agree that a precondition for industrial revival is a well-trained work force? How many men and women will fail to be trained because of cuts in skillcentres, cuts in the MSC programme and cuts in the STEP and TOPS programmes? Are not those cuts a disadvantage to women, and certainly to men?

Mr. Lester

If the hon. Member reads the report of last night's debate he will see that most of our changes are designed to increase the effectiveness of training and to direct that training to where it is most necessary. The changes relating to skillcentres are designed to increase the overall number of places.

Mr. Harold Walker

Why does not the hon. Gentleman come clean with the House and tell us what will be the real impact of the £170 million that has been cut from the training and employment measures provided by the MSC? Why does he not tell the House how severely women will be affected by the cut-back in the TOPS programme, from 99,000 trainees in 1978 to 60,000 next year? Why does he not tell the House what will be the impact on the training of women of the cutting of 20 skillcentres out of the skillcentres network? Is it not time that we had some decent, honest answers on these matters?

Mr. Lester

The right hon. Gentleman knows how many women are trained in skillcentres. I said last night that if 20 skillcentres were closed—and they are not to be closed—there would still be enough places in the remaining centres to accommodate all the trainees. There is a shortage of trainees in every region. That deals with skillcentres.

The right hon. Gentleman assumes, in relation to the TOPS scheme, that the only form of training available is through that scheme. We feel that industry itself should take a much greater share of training, so bringing it closer to the place of work, and we are trying to encourage that.