§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for employment if he will list in the Official Report the number of youngsters participating in apprenticeship schemes in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and 302W Development countries at the latest available date, showing these as a percentage of the total number eligible in each country, and giving the United Kingdom statistics as a breakdown into the constituent parts.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe information is not available in the form requested.
Available statistics on apprenticeship in OECD countries are as follows:
Country Year Number of apprentices (000's) Apprentices as per cent, of total civilian employment Australia 1974 131 2.3 Austria 1974 164 5.4 Belgium 1977 23.6 0.8 Canada 1974 67 (excl. Quebec) 0.7 Denmark 1976 55.4 2.2 Finland 1974 3 0.2 France 1979 220 1.0 Germany 1978 1400 over 1500 5.2 1979 Ireland 1977 16.5 1.6 Italy 1976 692.2 3.6 Luxembourg 1977 4 2.7 Netherlands 1977 58.3 1.2 New Zealand 1974 32 2.7 Norway 1970 10 0.7 Spain 1974 8 0.1 Sweden 1979 1 n/a Switzerland 1974 143 4.9 Great Britain 1974 463 1.9 United States of America 1977 263 0.3 Source: "Outlook on Training", Manpower Services Commission, 1980. Because of differences in educational and training systems the figures are not directly comparable.