HC Deb 17 November 1987 vol 122 cc901-2
Mr. Sheerman

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many places are available under the job training scheme ; and how many of these are occupied in the most recent period of record.

Mr. Cope

The Manpower Services Commission has provision for up to 110,000 trainees on the new job training scheme. At 25 September 1987, the latest date for which figures are available, there were 22,111 people in training.

Mr. Sheerman

Is not the deplorable take-up a sign that the pre-election gimmick, the job training scheme, has been a total and utter failure? Everyone in the country, especially the long-term unemployed, saw it as a pre-election gimmick. They also saw that it did not create jobs and that it was not quality training. In many cases, it was job substitution and cheap labour. When will the Government recognise that the people of this country want well-paid quality training? The incentive must be quality and pay, not compulsion.

Mr. Cope

It is precisely because we have put quality before quantity that the take-up is as it is. We believe that the principles of the JTS are entirely right : practical training for the long-term unemployed and allowances based on needs.

Sir Anthony Grant

I wholly support the job training scheme, but is my hon. Friend aware that there is a danger of its being interpreted somewhat bureaucratically? May I send to him the case of one of my constituents who has happily completed two weeks with a company under the job training scheme, only to be told that he cannot continue because he has not been on the dole long enough? Will he look into that sort of tomfoolery?

Mr. Cope

I will certainly look into any case that my hon. Friend or anybody else sends to me.

Mr. Leighton

Is not the JTS monumentally unpopular with employers, clients and those agencies that work with the MSC in running those programmes? Is it not obvious, from the Minister's answer, that less than a quarter of the number intended are on JTS, that many of those leave early, and that that is because the whole concept of working for benefit is flawed and misguided? Should he not discontinue the scheme and replace it with a much improved one?

Mr. Cope

The take-up of the JTS has been slower than we anticipated or wished. However, I believe that no one should be denied training because of the loss of income from benefit. Allowances based on needs is the right concept.

Mrs. Peacock

Will my hon. Friend confirm that he has no plan for benefit sanctions on JTS?

Mr. Cope

We have no immediate plans to change the situation.