§ Mrs. Chalkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many courses are run annually covering what number of students for those who are (a) registered blind and (b) registered disabled other than blind; and in what crafts and skills these courses are run, by region of college or skillcentre providing them.
§ Mr. John GrantI am advised by the Manpower Services Commission—MSC—that the information is not available in the form requested. An analysis of the kind requested could only be obtained
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§ Mr. GoldingThe following table gives estimates of the numbers of employees in employment in each of the employment office areas in Cheshire.
by special and costly computer runs. Even then the precise information would not be available. For example, the records do not differentiate between registered and non-registered blind trainees.
During 1977–78, 5,395 registered and non-registered disabled people were trained under the MSC's arrangements. Disabled people under the training able-bodied people under the training opportunities scheme—TOPS—which embraces over 500 courses run in skillcentres, colleges of further education, private colleges and employers' premises. Disabled people are also trained at residential training colleges at Durham, Exeter, Leatherhead and Mansfield in commercial, construction, engineering and other skills; they are trained on an individual basis with an employer prepared to employ them afterwards; and they are trained for professional qualifications.
Table A gives the number trained in 1977 by occupational groups in the various regions of the MSC's training services division and Table B the numbers trained in various institutions for the year to December 1976 and for the financial year 1976–77. These are the latest available figures.
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TABLE A NUMBERS OF DISABLED PEOPLE TRAINED IN 1977, BY OCCUPATIONAL GROUP AND BY TSD REGIONS OF THE MSC's TRAINING SERVICES DIVISION Region Course Grouping Scotland North-East North-West Midlands Wales and West South-East London Great Britain Management … … … … 21 21 25 70 27 24 53 241 Management services … … … 1 17 22 17 13 26 46 142 Education, welfare, health, Art etc. … 1 18 12 10 18 14 9 82 Science and technology … … 5 14 14 4 8 10 15 70 Clerical … … … … … 96 179 142 148 166 147 140 1,018 Shorthand, typing … … … 45 24 67 40 86 49 77 388 Office machine operating etc. … … 12 7 11 3 12 5 49 99 Selling … … … … … 3 11 7 8 5 6 1 41 Food preparing/serving … … 12 6 20 18 11 12 7 86 Hairdressing, cleaning etc. … … 2 15 14 6 3 1 7 48 Farming, fishing … … … 0 20 10 8 21 15 20 94 Materials, processing—excluding metal 0 5 10 2 0 0 0 17 Metal making, engineering … … 86 199 144 161 165 185 100 1,040 Welding … … … … 10 12 9 38 27 16 26 138 Making and repairing (electrical) … 25 37 26 77 81 50 58 354 Other making and repairing … … 7 34 47 20 29 16 59 212 Carpentry and joinery … … 13 14 14 12 14 20 18 105 Assembly, inspecting, packaging … 7 4 6 30 19 10 26 102 Construction … … … … 1 11 15 10 18 14 19 88 HGV driving … … … … 3 40 18 14 16 16 6 113 Miscellaneous … … … … 28 50 131 172 62 79 166 688 Total … … … … 378 738 764 868 801 715 902 5,166
TABLE B Numbers of disabled people trained, by training institutions Calendar year 1976 Training Institution No. of Completions Skillcentres 1,419 CFE 2,042 Private Colls 337 RTC 691 Emp Establs 490 Unspecified 2 Total 4,981
Financial year 1976–77 Training Institution No. of Completions Skillcentres 1,424 CFE 1,994 Private Colls 358 RTC 694 Emp Establs 521 Unspecified 3 Total 3 Special facilities to train blind people for open employment are available in co-operation with the Royal National
Number of unemployed registered disabled people Number of unemployed registered disabled people as a percentage of the Disabled Persons Register Latest available date Men Women Men Women Total March 1973 … … … 71,401 8,643 13.5 10.5 13.1 March 1974 … … … 58,142 7,240 11.3 9.0 10.9 March 1975 … … … 57,763 7,517 11.7 9.5 11.4 March 1976 … … … 68,371 9,357 14.2 12.2 13.9 March 1977 … … … 67,447 10,110 14.4 13.3 14.3 March 1978 … … … 63,314 9,533 13.9 12.6 13.7