HC Deb 21 December 1976 vol 923 cc165-6W
Mr. Cowans

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how much financial assistance the United Kingdom Government have received from the European Social Fund in the first six months of 1976 towards the cost of Government-supported resettlement schemes; and of the resettlement services for the disabled.

Mr. Golding

Applications to, and allocations from, the European Social Fund are normally made in respect of calendar years; it is not normally possible, therefore, to attribute allocations to any other period. Allocations so far made in respect of Government-supported schemes for 1976 as a whole are as follows:

  • Schemes for the training of former agricultural and textile workers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland—£1,258,591.
  • Schemes of training for unemployed workers in the assisted areas of Great Britain—£14,568,615.
  • Schemes for the training of young people under 25—£2,837,512.
  • Schemes for the training and rehabilitation of unemployed workers in Northern Ireland—£1,587,159.
  • Schemes to encourage training and safeguard the position of young workers during a period of high unemployment—£291,000.
  • Schemes for the training of heavy goods vehicle drivers—£476,378.
  • Schemes for the training of divers for work associated with offshore oil development—£125,300.
  • Employment Service Agency Transfer Schemes—£37,754.
  • Schemes for the retraining of forestry workers run by the Forestry Commission—£39,896.
  • Schemes for the training of workers from private companies in Great Britain—£29,267.
  • Schemes for the training of workers on employers' premises in Northern Ireland—£803,040.

Allocations to various resettlement services for the disabled administered by the Employment Service Agency, the Department of Health and Social Security, and the Departments of Manpower Services, and Health and Social Services for Norther Ireland, total £224,567. An allocation of £66,619 was made to the Queen Elizabeth Foundation for the Disabled—a voluntary organisation. Decisions have yet to be taken by the EEC Commission on certain large United Kingdom applications in these fields.