§ Mr. Nealeasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will review the operation of the employment transfer scheme to ensure that it does not prevent the best eligible unemployed candidate from being offered and accepting a job opportunity away from his home area when local candidates have also applied for that job.
Employers included in column (1) and who: Travel-to-work area Number of employers subject to the quota scheme (ie those with 20 or more workers were meeting the 3 per cent. quota were below quota but had been issued with permits in the previous 12 months were below quota and had not been issued with permits in the previous 12 months were below quota and had been with BULK permits in the previous 12 months* Number (1)
Number (2)
Percent. (3)
Number (4)
Percent. (5)
Number (6)
Percent. (7)
Number (8)
Percent. (9)
Manchester 1,076 280 26.0 520 48.3 276 25.7 517 48.0 Sheffield 433 151 34.9 151 34.9 131 30.2 151 34.9 London 6,316 1,627 25.8 3,500 55.4 1,189 18.8 3,385 53.6 Newcastle 332 94 28.3 196 59.0 42 12.7 194 58.4 Birmingham 1,053 363 34.5 513 48.7 177 16.8 497 47.2 Stoke on Trent 310 131 42.3 124 40.0 55 17.7 124 40.0 Leeds 595 192 32.3 278 46.7 125 21.0 277 46.6 Wakefield 71 20 28.2 40 56.3 11 15.5 40 56.3 Great Britain 36,680 11,130 30.3 18,769 51.2 6,781 18.5 18,300 49.9 Notes: (1) The issue of a permit does not exempt an employer from his duty under the Disabled Persons (Employment) Acts to employ a quota of registered disabled people. It authorises the engagement of a specific number of people who are not registered as disabled by an employer who is below quota. (2) Employers who are below quota and who have not been issued with a permit (Cols. 6 and 7) are not necessarily breaking the law unless they have engaged workers who are not registered as disabled. (3) The percentage figures in columns 3, 5, 7 and 9 are based on the total number of employers subject to quota in column 1. *(included in the overall figure in column 4).
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment what assistance the Manpower Services Commission gives to the employment of disabled people.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkThe Manpower Services Commission provides assistance to the employment of disabled people both through general services in which disabled people take part alongside able-bodied people and through specialist services, exclusive to disabled people.
The services especially relevant to disabled people include
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- occupational assessment and work preparation through public employment rehabilitation centres;
- occupational assessment and work preparation through agency rehabilitation arrangements, for example, Rock Rehabilitation Workshop in Blackpool and the Spastics Society's Sherrards Training Centre in Welwyn;
- skill training under the training opportunities scheme for which there are priority access arrangements for disabled
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonNo. I do not believe it would represent a cost effective use of taxpayers' money to give financial assistance where a person moves to take up a job which could have been filled by a local unemployed person.