§ 11.11 a.m.
Baroness VICKERSMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action is being taken to decrease the large number of school-leavers who are at present unemployed, especially in view of the fact that there will be more young people leaving school in July.
§ Lord JACQUESMy Lords, careers officers are doing all they reasonably can to find suitable jobs for school-leavers. The sum of £1.5 million has been made available by the Government to local authorities to provide additional posts in the careers service specifically to deal with unemployment of young people. The Government also announced last year, and this year, a number of measures to help young people in the present employment situation. These include money for a greatly expanded training programme, job creation, the recruitment subsidy for school-leavers, and an expansion in Community Industry. The Government are giving urgent consideration to the need for additional measures.
Baroness VICKERSMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that reply. Can he tell me what training these careers officers have, because it appears to me from investigations I have made that many of them do not understand how to advise young people in the careers which they could undertake? At present there are available many apprenticeships, of 941 which I personally know, which have not been taken up. Has the noble Lord read the report from Germany stating that £300,000 is being spent on retraining 95,000 school-leavers—whereas we now have three-quarters of a million school-leavers likely to leave at the end of this coming term?
§ Lord JACQUESMy Lords, I think that the supplementary question put by the noble Baroness can be divided into two parts. First, we realise the need for training and, consequently, it is young people whom we are seeking to recruit for training in the careers service. Secondly, so far as the Government's variety and extent of effort is concerned, I would point out that in the last two years we have allocated £220 million which has helped 175,000 young people.
§ Baroness EMMET of AMBERLEYMy Lords, may I ask whether Her Majesty's Government might circularise anybody who has to do with placing unemployed young people, or indeed anybody else, urging them to get rid of the term " menial " employment? It is a shame on their mothers, and there are many tycoons who started as tea boys.
§ Lord JACQUESMy Lords, I would suggest that the great danger is that if we advise that that word should not be used, some other more objectionable word might be used.
§ Lord POPPLEWELLMy Lords, could my noble friend give any indication of the proportion of these resources that are being utilised with a view to training young people in more industrially productive types of employment, such as the apprenticeship scheme, and say what assistance and help is being given to industry, working in conjunction with the Government, in pursuance of the desire to get many of these young people into productive employment as distinct from the service industries?
§ Lord JACQUESYes, my Lords. Of the £220 million to which I referred, approximately £140 million is on the expansion of training schemes and on recruitment subsidy.
Baroness WARD of NORTH TYNE-SIDEMy Lords, in view of the fact 942 that different areas need different schemes, different training, different apprenticeships, would it not be possible to set out in Hansard the different schemes in different areas so that we may know what actual schemes are available, for example, in the high unemployment areas of the North? Is the noble Lord aware that in some areas certain schemes fit in, whereas in areas where there is really high unemployment we do not quite know what schemes are being put into operation? Would we not know a great deal more if the Government told us what is allocated to each area so that school-leavers know what is available for them?
§ Lord JACQUESMy Lords, the schemes are of such a variety—and one of the reasons why they are of variety is that the problems are different in each area and with each individual—that to publish details of what happens in each area would almost fill a Hansard. I think that the noble Baroness is asking for too much.
§ Lord CARR of HADLEYMy Lords, as the noble Lord will be aware, the Department of Employment and the Manpower Services Commission have just published an important consultative document on some new possibilities of recruitment for key skills. Can the noble Lord say how long a consultative period is going to be allowed? It is such a vital matter, socially and economically, that I hope the Government will make sure that, although thorough, the consultation will be quick and the following action urgent.
§ Lord JACQUESMy Lords, I can assure the noble Lord that the Government are giving very urgent attention to the matter to which he refers.
§ Lord DAVIES of LEEKMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that we must not be too lugubrious about this question and that, as has been known to many of us for over 40 years, the local authorities have devoted a great deal of attention, with career officers and others, to it? Should we not pay a tribute to the local manufacturers, shop-keepers and careers officers who give exhibitions in schools regarding the possibilities of employment? Is it not the case that so much of this is done that it would be impossible to 943 record it in Hansard, for it would take volumes to show the amount of local authority work done in this direction?
§ Lord WIGGMy Lords, is the Minister aware that it has become fashionable, certainly with Governments, never to take any action without taking into account what happens with our European partners? In this field, is it not an excellent example that every one of the EEC countries without exception has some form of national service, not necessarily in the armed forces but in order that young people will learn the art, if art it may be, of discipline and working together in the interests of the community as a whole? While it might be a difficult political nettle to grasp, would this not be not only in the overall interests of the community but in the interests of the young people themselves?
§ Lord JACQUESMy Lords, there is a case for and against national service, but it is another interesting question.
§ Lord WIGGMy Lords, on the contrary, it is not another interesting question; it is the same question. I would ask the Minister, before making a frivolous reply of that kind, at least to say he will go along and find out the facts. In France, young people after doing their basic training can opt into all sorts of activities, teaching, teaching in overseas territories, forestry and land reclamation. All these things are done in the interests of the community.
§ Lord JACQUESMy Lords, in spite of what the noble Lord has said about some of our partners in the EEC, I have to point out to him that at the present time they have exactly the same problem as we have: worsening conditions of employment for young people.
§ Lord LUCAS of CHILWORTHMy Lords, will the Government attempt to ensure that any further monies made available to alleviate this problem are devoted to the provision of work and facilities for those unfortunate enough to be unemployed and are not devoted to the administration of the problem of the unemployed school-leaver?
§ Lord JACQUESNaturally, my Lords, in these schemes we try to ensure that the least possible amount is devoted to administration so that the maximum number of people can be helped. I would point out once again that the greater part of the expenditure has been on the expansion of the training programme and the recoupment subsidy.
Viscount ST. DAVIDSMy Lords, will the noble Lord ask his Department whether they have looked at the excellent publications recently issued by the Institute of Personnel Management, many of which advise young people and relate directly to the obtaining of jobs for young people who are getting jobs for the first time?
§ Lord JACQUESMy Lords, I can assure the noble Viscount that the document in question is in the hands of the Department and is being studied.