§ 6. Mr. Barry Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many young men and women under the age of 18 years are without jobs or training.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. Peter Morrison)At 13 January, the latest date for which the quarterly age analysis is available, there were 123,769 men and 97,976 women aged under 18 in the United Kingdom who were unemployed claimants.
§ Mr. JonesThose are disturbing and serious figures. No Minister has given such serious figures to the House before. Do they not represent the humiliation and sense of hopelessness not only for the youngsters out of work but for their parents? Are not the figures the most ghastly aspect of the Government's mass unemployment policy? Did not the Conservative Government in 1979 promise that real jobs would be given to unemployed youngsters?
§ Mr. MorrisonThe hon. Gentleman has obviously failed to notice that the Government have introduced the youth training scheme with enough places for 460,000 16 and 17-year-old entrants. Surely, with the Labour party supporting that scheme, he must realise that the Government have played a positive role in helping to solve the problem.
§ Mr. FosterHow many thousands of young people who left school at Easter and will return to take their examinations do not appear in the figures that the Minister has just given and will therefore not be able to receive benefits until September? Does he realise that those young people's families have to support them without any help whatever?
§ Mr. MorrisonI do not have the exact figure to hand, but the hon. Gentleman will be aware that it they are taking examinations they will benefit from passing them by gaining proper employment.