HC Deb 05 June 1984 vol 61 cc147-8
7. Mr. Knox

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he is satisfied with the operation of the job release scheme.

Mr. Alan Clark

Yes, Sir. With the other special employment measures on which the Government expect to spend some £2 billion in the current financial year, the job release scheme makes a valuable contribution both to helping the unemployed and to facilitating early retirement for people who fulfil the criteria of the scheme.

Mr. Knox

Is my hon. Friend aware that there is strong public support for a reduction in the age at which people become eligible for the scheme and does he agree that such a reduction would be desirable?

Mr. Clark

. The terms of the job release scheme, like those of the other special employment measures, come up for review annually. I have received a number of representations from hon. Members on both sides of the House along the lines suggested by my hon. Friend. I must tell him, however, that spending on the scheme this year will be £314 million compared with an outturn of £260 million last year. We must judge the extent to which still further resources should be made available.

Mr. John Smith

Is the Minister not aware that the Government recently changed the scheme by reducing the qualifying age by two years so that many people who had relied on coming within the scheme were disqualified? Is he aware that the great resentment throughout the country has been reflected in representations to Members in all parts of the House and will the Government urgently consider restoring the scheme to what it was when many people looked at it with interest?

Mr. Clark

As the right hon. and learned Gentleman will probably recall, the Labour Government started the scheme and changed it three times in the first two years. I have already said that expenditure on the scheme has risen — [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) is very talkative——

Mr. Skinner

rose——

Mr. Speaker

Order. I did not call the hon. Gentleman.

Mr. Skinner

I thought that the Minister was giving way.

Mr. Clark

It is possible that the hon. Gentleman is trying to solicit a compliment from the House because the Bolsover pit is the only one in North Derbyshire that is working, which reflects the rapport which the hon. Gentleman must enjoy with his constituents.

Whenever the terms of a scheme are altered some people are bound to find themselves on just the wrong side of the eligibility limit. My sympathies go out to such people, but I cannot adapt the rules to accommodate people who fall outside the changed rules by a small margin.