§ 26. Mr. David Marshallasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what are the total numbers and percentages of unemployed young males and young females in Scotland; what plans he has to reduce these figures; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LangOn 8 January 1987 (the latest date for which information is available) there were 90,236 unemployed male claimants and 52,203 unemployed female claimants 277W in Scotland under the age of 25. Because an accurate estimate of the total work force under the age of 25 is not available, unemployment rates by age groups cannot be given.
Our primary objective is to create the conditions in which employment will flourish. The rate of inflation has been brought down, providing a more stable environment for business, and a wide range of measures to assist employment, training, improve incentives and increase flexibility has been introduced. Of the Government employment and training measures the new job training scheme, the extension of the YTS guarantee to all school leavers under 18, the expansion of places available under the enterprise allowance scheme and the introduction last year of the new workers scheme will all be of particular benefit to unemployed young people in Scotland.