§ Mr. Welshasked the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he has taken to maintain the training of apprentices in the construction industry specifically in Scotland who are at present threatened with redundancy; and what have been the costs and numbers involved.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the Training Services Agency has made arrangements with all the industry training boards, and similar organisations, to ensure that apprentices who become redundant can continue their training. If the normal joint machinery of the con-578W struction industry is unable to arrange for the apprenticeship to be transferred to another employer, the Construction ITB can either offer the inducement of an adoption grant of £750 to another employer willing to employ the young person and continue the apprenticeship, or arrange for the training of the redundant apprentice to be continued to the completion of the next stage of the apprenticeship. This could be in a CITB group training association or other training centre, or in a college of further education, or a skillcentre of the Training Services Agency, or by attachment to an employer in a supernumerary capacity.
To date, 14 adoption grants have been authorised in Scotland by the Construction 1TB at a cost of £10,500, and currently the training of one redundant apprentice is being continued in a training centre at a cost, so far, of £94.