Employment Action Scheme (Hansard, 11 February 1992)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Employment (Viscount Ullswater)
My Lords, Employment Action is being delivered in the main by TECs in England and Wales and by local enterprise companies in Scotland. They are well on their way to providing 30,000 places by March and are working closely with the employment service to fill places as they come on stream.

§ Lord Rochester
My Lords, I thank the noble Viscount for that reply. Last June the Secretary of State announced that the scheme would provide 60,000 unemployed people with work experience on local projects in a full year. Is not the Answer that 30,000 places are expected by the end of March therefore disappointing in that connection? Will the noble Viscount also say whether or not it is true that a number of training and enterprise councils have refused to help in the running of the scheme on the grounds that there is within it an insufficient training component? If that is so, what are the Government doing about it?

§ Viscount Ullswater
My Lords, EA is meant as a six-month programme. With 30,000 places available we therefore expect to help 60,000 people in the course of a year. That is a matter of simple arithmetic. However, the noble Lord is correct that seven TECs decided not to co-operate in producing EA in their areas. That was not because training was not involved but because the scheme did not fit in with their business plans. The department's regional office has contracted directly with one or two providers for EA projects in those areas. Therefore the whole country is covered with providers.

§ Baroness Turner of Camden
My Lords, is it not over-optimistic of the Government to expect a scheme to be a success which does not include a mandatory training element and in which the people concerned are expected to participate for only £10 expenses per week over and above the benefit level?

§ Viscount Ullswater
My Lords, a training scheme is already up and running. Those who do not need the training or the vocational qualifications to which that training leads, who possess basic and current skills but who need to keep their skills up to date and brushed up, need Employment Action. It is important that they continue with their job search while training in order to return to the labour force as soon as possible.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, bearing in mind the tens of thousands of families now suffering through the long-term unemployment of the breadwinner, would it not be useful for the Government, having 585 introduced the scheme—which is helpful—to hold detailed consultations with both the Confederation of British Industry and the Trades Union Congress?

§ Viscount Ullswater
My Lords, I do not see the locus for that. The training and enterprise councils are delivering EA in their localities. It is mainly employers who sit on the boards of the TECs. They possess the knowledge of the areas and the skills required, and therefore of what can be done in terms of other jobs —for example, in community projects and the like—to assist where otherwise people would be unemployed. The benefit of EA is that it helps people keep their current skills up to date.

Lord Bruce of Donington
My Lords, is not the principal cause for the Government's trouble that, although they have plans for the increased training of those who are at present out of work, the ruthless ideological pursuit of their own economic policies automatically increases the number of those unemployed?

§ Viscount Ullswater
My Lords, I have said before from the Dispatch Box that it is difficult to consider that this country runs in isolation. Indeed, the turndown in the economy is being seen in practically every other western nation, together with Japan. It is therefore important that the training for the unemployed and Employment Action—which is another string to the bow and another opportunity for the unemployed —is kept as an option.

§ Lord Williams of Elvel
My Lords, will the noble Viscount justify his statement that there is a general turndown in the world economy? Apart from the United States and Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Holland all grew last year. We went down, and that is the truth.

§ Viscount Ullswater
My Lords, the noble Lord is selective in what he says. Unfortunately, as the noble Lord is aware, we trade considerably with the United States. It therefore affects our economy when the economy of that country turns down. As I said, Japan's economy is also turning down. The noble Lord is therefore wrong to suggest that they are all going up.

§ Baroness Phillips
My Lords, is the Minister aware of the cruelty of placing people on a training scheme when there is no job at the end of it?

§ Viscount Ullswater
My Lords, that is the wrong conclusion to draw. Many people, through a structural change in the economy, unfortunately face redundancy from whole industries which sometimes have to close down. It is important that those people receive training to help them get back into the labour market as soon as possible.

§ Baroness Turner of Camden
My Lords, I thank the Minister for his response. However, will he address himself to the point I put to him regarding the small amount payable in expenses over and above the benefit level? Are people really expected to regard that as an incentive to join the schemes?

§ Viscount Ullswater
; My Lords, Employment Action is giving people an opportunity to exercise their skills and is not a substitute for real jobs. On that basis, with the limited amount of money that is always available at public expense, it helps more people than if they were to be paid a full wage.