§ 4. Mr. Marlowasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the cost to the Treasury of direct financial support to those aged over 16 and under 18 years.
§ Mr. MacGregorInformation on total social security expenditure for this age group is not available.
§ Mr. MarlowI am sure that my right hon. Friend, like myself, is seeking common ground as much as possible on this issue. As any young person between the ages of 16 and 18 has the opportunity of education, the youth training scheme or a job, is it not time that the money that is spent in this area, through supplementary benefit or unemployment pay, was spent in other directions? Do not the sensitive souls on the Opposition Benches also agree that that money could be better spent on the elderly and other people?
§ Mr. MacGregorYoung people who refuse an appropriate training place—I am thinking of the youth training scheme on which a considerable amount of the expenditure on those aged between 16 and 18 goes—already face a substantial financial penalty. If they refuse a place, it will result in the loss of unemployment benefit for a period, for those who are entitled to it, and payment of a substantially reduced rate of supplementary benefit. Therefore, it makes sense to concentrate expenditure on YTS. I hope that, in view of the penalties for those who do not take up places, there will be a substantial take-up.