§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list those Government schemes currently in force as job creation measures; how many are being employed under each scheme; and if he will announce his future plans for each scheme.
§ Mr. Jim LesterThe special temporary employment programme (STEP), operated by the Manpower Services Commission on behalf of the Government, provides temporary employment opportunities for long-term unemployed people. The Commission estimates that at the end of October 15,500 people were taking part in the programme.
The Commission also operates the youth opportunities programme (YOP) which offers a range of work experience and work preparation to unemployed young people under 19. It estimates that about 110,000 people, including 5,000 adult supervisors, were participating in YOP at the end of October.
My Department operates the small firms employment subsidy (SFES) scheme which offers small manufacturing firms in the private sector in special development 202W areas and development areas a subsidy for each extra job provided over and above the number provided on a given base date. At 31 October 1979, it is estimated that 75,080 jobs were being supported under this scheme.
These measures, along with all the other special employment programmes, are now being reviewed and our decisions on the schemes in 1980–81 will be announced in due course.