§ In the autumn statement, the Government announced a number of measures to help the unemployed, and in my Budget I have set out my further proposals to help business and sustain recovery. That it the best way to promote employment.
§ However, we know from experience that unemployment may continue to rise for a while even after growth has resumed. That is a matter of great concern to the whole country, and it is a concern which I fully share. My right 193 hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment and I have therefore decided to take further special measures to help an extra 100,000 unemployed people.
§ First, we have decided to provide more help for those who wish to set up their own businesses under the business start-up scheme. This offers advice and financial assistance, and has been one of the most successful employment schemes. We propose to offer an additional 10,000 places in 1993–94. That will give a direct boost to small business creation and self-employment in years ahead.
§ Secondly, the Secretary of State for Employment proposes to introduce a new initiative to allow the long-term unemployed to learn the practical skills they need to find work. In the past the benefit rules have been an obstacle to allowing them to study. We intend to introduce an education allowance that will enable 30,000 long-term unemployed people to study on full-time vocational courses.
§ Thirdly, it is widely agreed that, in every community, there are plenty of jobs needing to be done, and plenty of people who want to do them. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has recently indicated the importance of offering more unemployed people the opportunity to undertake some form of useful work or other activity. We are therefore launching a new community action programme to allow 60,000 of the long-term unemployed to do part-time work in their local communities, organised by voluntary groups. Those involved will be paid an allowance based on their previous benefit rates plus a small premium. The scheme will start as soon as possible.
§ Those who have been unemployed for a long time tend to lose touch with the job market, and the problem is that they find it increasingly difficult to find an employer who wants to take them on. We propose to test in pilot schemes the feasibility and effectiveness of a new approach under which, rather than pay benefit to the long-term unemployed to do nothing, payments will instead be made, for a limited period, to an employer who recruits them. Employers taking on people who have been out of work for at least two years will receive a one-year subsidy based on the benefits which would otherwise have been paid. That subsidy will taper off as the period of employment progresses. Pilot schemes using different approaches will be launched this summer in four parts of the country. If they can be made to work, I believe that they could be useful, and would lead to permanent jobs for the long-term unemployed as the economy recovers.
§ Finally, the establishment of training and enterprise councils throughout the country has successfully brought local business people into the design and running of training and enterprise programmes for the unemployed. I now propose to offer the TECs a new £25 million fund. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment will invite TECs to submit competing applications to develop the most imaginative schemes to help the long-term unemployed and stimulate job creation. The degree of local business involvement will be an important criterion against which each application will be judged.
§ These measures will cost £230 million, and will give special help to those who need it most, including disabled people. The disabled will be given priority in the vocational education initiative and in community action, helping us to build on our achievements in helping the disabled back to work. In the first nine months of 1992–93 194 the Employment Service found jobs for 31,000 unemployed disabled people, 25 per cent. more than in the same period of 1991–92. I am sure the House will welcome this.