§ 5. Mr. Bill MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of those participating in the Sheffield TEC programmes successfully find full-time employment.
§ Mr. McLoughlinIn the Sheffield TEC area in the year to July 1991, some 65 per cent. of youth training leavers and 38 per cent. of employment training leavers who completed their training were in full-time employment.
§ Mr. MichieThe Government have been claiming to have met the guarantee month after month. Will they wake up to the fact that those courses are inadequate and not available to most people, and that there is not enough fund money and grants for people to afford to take the training courses—let alone get a job at the end of them?
§ Mr. McLoughlinNo. The Government will take no lectures from the Labour party on the provision of training, about which it did absolutely nothing when in government. This Government are committed to providing training a concept totally alien to the action taken by the Labour party when it was last in office.
§ Mr. RiddickDoes my hon. Friend agree that employment opportunities for people participating in the Sheffield training and enterprise council courses will be severely reduced if the 48-hour working week is imposed on British industry by the European Commission? Will my hon. Friend assure the House that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will fight those proposals and that there will be no compromise?
§ Mr. McLoughlinI can assure my hon. Friend that the issue he has raised is in the forefront of our minds. Obviously, the proposals will be negotiated and discussions will take place at Community level. We hope to obtain satisfactory arrangements for the United Kingdom.