§ 8. Mr. Roy HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the latest unadjusted unemployment figures for school leavers; and if he will give the equivalent figure for 1979 on the most nearly comparable basis.
§ Mr. FowlerOn 10 December 1987 the number of unemployed claimants aged under 18 who had not entered employment since leaving full-time education was 63,700. This is the lowest December figure since 1979, when it totalled some 30,500.
§ Mr. HughesDoes the Secretary of State appreciate that YTS places are not regarded as real jobs? The pay is certainly paltry and the places seem to be a mere device to keep young people off the unemployment register. In those circumstances, why threaten those same young people with loss of their supplementary benefit if they fail to take up the places?
§ Mr. FowlerFrankly, the hon. Gentleman is rather out of date in his view of YTS. YTS now leads to about 60 per cent. of people going into jobs and a further 15 per cent. are going into training and education. On supplementary benefit, the Government intend to guarantee that anyone leaving school can go into a job or have a YTS place. It seems to us that it is not realistic or sensible to allow supplementary benefit to be a further option.
§ Mr. Simon CoombsWill my right hon. Friend compare the figure that he has given to the House with the equivalent figure for 12 months earlier—December 1986 —and the corresponding figure of five years ago?
§ Mr. FowlerAs I said, the figures have been coming down. In December 1986 the figure was 88,000 and five years before, in 1981, it was 122,000. The trend is unquestionably downwards.
§ Ms. ShortDoes the Secretary of State agree that there will be zero unemployed school leavers next year because, cynically and dishonestly, the Government are abolishing the right to benefit for 16 and 17-year-olds? Therefore, unemployment in that age group will disappear. Young people will be forced into YTS places which will sometimes be inappropriate. They will be unable to wait for a real job or choose to study for O and A-levels while on benefit, which 30,000 young people did last year. How can the Government possibly justify this crude abolition of freedom of choice in career and life for young people at the beginning of their working lives? Is it part of the Government's master plan to abolish unemployment by forcing the unemployed to work for their benefits?
§ Mr. FowlerThe hon. Lady has been rehearsing those arguments in Committee for the past two months and she is being equally absurd this afternoon. The worst way of starting one's adult career is by going down to the supplementary benefit office and drawing social security.
§ Mr. WigleyWill the Secretary of State now give a guarantee to all young people on YTS that there will be a real job for them when they finish?
§ Mr. FowlerThe hon. Gentleman knows that we can guarantee a place on YTS to every school leaver. He also knows that the number now going into jobs is increasing and that in many places it is now more than 80 per cent. That is the progress that is being made and that is the commitment to YTS.
§ Mr. Bill WalkerIs my right hon. Friend aware that the Royal Air Force is taking many young boys on YTS? Thousands of them have been accepted. A substantial number of them would not normally have been up to the standard acceptable to the RAF, but events have shown that many of them reach the acceptable standard, get a good training and end up with real jobs.
§ Mr. FowlerYes, that is a good scheme, and there are many other examples all round the country. We need to develop schemes in the public sector, but the armed forces scheme is already making substantial progress.