New Workers Scheme (Hansard, 18 November 1986)

§ 3. Mr. Butterfill
asked the Paymaster General whether he will estimate the contribution likely to be made in employment in tourism by the new workers scheme.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. David Trippier)
This information is not available. However, by the end of March 1987 some 13,000 young people will be supported in the wider industrial grouping including hotels and catering, a significant proportion of which will be in tourism-related jobs.

§ Mr. Butterfill
I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for that information. Does he agree that tourism is a particularly appropriate industry for the new workers scheme, first, because it assists the industry in contributing as much as it does towards our balance of payments and, secondly, although traditionally wages for young people in the industry have been low, they lead to outstanding employment opportunities, as is evidenced in my constituency?

§ Mr. Trippier
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Career prospects in tourism are better now than ever 422 before. Given the dramatic growth in that sector during the past few years, the opportunities for young people are enormous.

§ Mr. Willie W. Hamilton
Is the Minister aware that, as a result of the Government's legislation on wages councils, the wages of young workers in our hotels and elsewhere have been, or are about to be, cut by about £20 a week —[HON. MEMBERS: "Rubbish."] That is indeed the case. Will the Minister make inquiries and ensure that those young people are not exploited in such an obscene way by the industry?

§ Mr. Trippier
What the hon. Gentleman says is pure hypothesis, and not fact. I should like to see details on those points. We took young people out of the purview of the wages councils in order to give them a better opportunity to get their feet on the first rung of the employment ladder. I am sure that that is what is happening right now.

§ Mr. Steen
I recognise the importance of the new workers scheme, but is my hon. Friend aware that last summer thousands of jobs were going begging in my constituency in south Devon because young people and those on the unemployment register just would not take them? Many of those jobs were taken by people from European countries, although they should have been filled by our young people. Will my hon. Friend do something about that by next summer?

§ Mr. Trippier
One of the difficulties for the tourism sector is that young people may from time to time get a little mixed up about the difference between service and servility. The Opposition do not help matters by rubbishing jobs in the tourist industry that are occupied by those young people.

§ Mr. Prescott
I had a job in tourism, and I do not need the Minister's lecture.

§ Mr. Trippier
That is why I am so surprised that the hon. Gentleman should take every opportunity to rubbish jobs in tourism. We are trying to correct that impression, and I have recently launched a video to that end which will be seen in 7,500 schools.