HL Deb 15 December 1980 vol 415 cc873-4

3.53 p.m.

Lord Gainford

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that their programme of measures to assist unemployment are being used to the advantage of those in greatest need, such as the long-term unemployed or people in areas of high unemployment.

The Earl of Gowrie

My Lords, I would refer my noble friend to the statement made in the other place on 21st November 1980 by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Employment, in which he gave details of the programme of special employment measures for 1981–82.

In that statement my right honourable friend made it clear that the Government consider those in the greatest need to be the young and for this reason we have greatly expanded the Youth Opportunities Programme. In addition, the new Community Enterprise Programme, which will concentrate on areas of high unemployment and on the long-term unemployed, will next year have double the number of places provided under the old Special Temporary Employment Programme.

Lord Gainford

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that Answer. Would he possibly agree that one of the reasons for high unemployment these days is the apparent mania of so many people in this country to come and live and work in or near London? If such a mania exists, what encouragement can the Government give to help people to move to other parts of the country where jobs may be available, but where labour is non-existent?

The Earl of Gowrie

My Lords, I must be careful, I think, not to discuss in a Parliamentary Answer questions of people's mania. I think that people have a reasonable mania to be employed and the Government certainly have a very strong interest in people being employed, although, unlike noble Lords opposite, we are modest about the contribution that we can make to that end. But we do have a very large network of regional subsidies and regional incentives for people to try and spread employment throughout the country, and those are continually being monitored by the Government.

Lord Wells-Pestell

My Lords, may I ask the noble Earl the Minister whether the Government are still of the opinion that they will be able to offer a place to a school-leaver, either on some kind of apprenticeship scheme or will find the school-leaver work within six months of leaving school?

The Earl of Gowrie

Yes, my Lords. We are setting ourselves a 100 per cent. target and we shall, of course, be grieved if it is less than that. We shall do our best to maintain such a high target. As I said in my pervious Answer, it is a very ambitious programme, but the MSC are confident that if we get sufficient national goodwill from local authorities, individual employers and the rest, they will be able to meet their target.