HC Deb 09 July 1991 vol 194 cc766-7
5. Mr. Foulkes

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his estimate of the number of places available per parliamentary constituency through his employment action programme.

Mr. Howard

Training and enterprise councils and local enterprise companies in Scotland will shortly be invited to submit proposals to deliver employment action in their local areas. As parliamentary constituency boundaries and TEC and LEC boundaries are not the same, it will not be possible to say what the distribution of employment action places will be within parliamentary constituencies.

Mr. Foulkes

I thought that the Secretary of State would shy away from answering my question. Is the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that in my constituency and, indeed, throughout the country many projects exist that could benefit from an employment action programme? Many more places are needed, however, and those involved in the programme need to be paid the rate for the job, instead of being used as slave labour.

Mr. Howard

The hon. Gentleman may care to reflect on the utter inconsistency of the two points that he has made. If the scheme were introduced with those involved being paid the rate for the job, it would be possible to provide roughly one third of the number of places that we shall provide next year.

Sir Michael Marshall

Will my right hon. and learned Friend take this opportunity to support the moves being made through the programme to combat agism? Does he agree that, given the current demographic changes, it is important to look for opportunities to employ the over-50s, as well as to carry out the necessary work for the youth training scheme?

Mr. Howard

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. Jobcentres and the Employment Service generally are playing a full part in countering the difficulties that those who are over 50 experience in finding jobs. I now have a personal interest in that matter. The private sector is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of its role and it is taking its responsibilities increasingly seriously.

Mr. McLeish

Why is it that, when faced with 965,000 people unemployed for over 26 weeks, the Government can find in this financial year 30,000 places only? Why is it, when faced with a bill for £16.4 billion to support the unemployed, the Government can provide only £110 million to get the unemployed back to work? Is the Secretary of State happy with that or will he continue to be the apologist for poverty pay in Britain?

Mr. Howard

The hon. Gentleman knows, or should know, full well that in this financial year we will provide through our various programmes help for an additional 190,000 people, over and above the 650,000 we are already helping. Next year we shall help a quarter of a million people in addition to those 650,000 whom we would be helping anyway—that is a total of 900,000 people. We will not take any lectures on the funding of these programmes from the Labour party when we know that none of these matters comes within the two immediate spending priorities that are the only things to which the shadow Chief Secretary will commit herself and her party.