HC Deb 06 July 1989 vol 156 cc275-9W
Ms. Short

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much has been paid to(a) employment training agents and (b) employment training managers under the underpinning arrangements since the inception of the scheme to the latest available date; and if he will make a statement about his future policy on underpinning arrangements.

Mr. Nicholls

So far some £0.67 million has been paid to training agents and £19.38 million to training managers under underpinning arrangements up to and including May 1989.

Underpinning was based on original profiles of training agent action plans/training manager starts, constructed prior to the commencement of employment training. From September 1989 training agents/training managers will be able to make a much more accurate judgment of likely throughput in the light of experience on the programme to date. It is therefore envisaged that underpinning payments will no longer be required.

Ms. Short

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much his Department has paid out to employment training trainees in the form of training bonus since the start of the scheme to the latest possible date; and how much of that has been paid because either(a) the trainee obtained a vocational qualification and (b) the trainee completed a part of the action plan.

Mr. Nicholls

To the end of May 1989 the Training Agency had paid out £105,000 in training bonuses.

It is not possible to identify separately the proportion of funds paid in respect of (a) vocational qualifications obtained and (b) action plans completed.

Ms. Short

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the average payment of benefit plus the additional £10 per trainee on employment training at the latest available date; how many employment training trainees are on placement with employers; how many employment training trainees had left the programme earlier than planned; how many employment training trainees had left to take up jobs; and how many employment training trainees had become unemployed when they left.

Mr. Nicholls

The average weekly training allowance including the training premium is estimated to be around £50 per trainee on employment training.

The number of employment training trainees on placements with employers was estimated to be 45,000 on 16 June, the latest date for which information is available. Reliable information broken down as requested about trainees who have left the programme is not available.

Mr. Tony Lloyd

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the total number of employment training places available for each training agency area; and what were the number of places filled for each training agency area on the latest date for which information is available.

Mr. Nicholls

There is no information at present about the number of available places at Training Agency area office level. The information will be available later in the year. The information requested for filled places is given in the table:

Employment training: filled places at 23 June 1989
Area office Number
Yorkshire and Humberside Region
Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees 4,541
Humberside 5,170
North Yorkshire and Leeds 4,393
Sheffield and Rotherham 5,464
Wakefield, Doncaster and Barnsley 5,436
North West Region
Cheshire 3,040
Cumbria 1,399
Lancashire 4,203
Central Manchester 4,133
Greater Manchester North 2,710
Greater Manchester East 2,536
Merseyside 9,047
Northern Region
Cleveland 6,283
County Durham 5,439
Northumberland, North Tyneside and Newcastle 4,650
Sunderland, South Tyneside and Gateshead 6,394
Wales
Dyfed and West Glamorgan 4,376
Gwent 2,253
Gwynned, Clwyd and Powys 3,200
Mid and South Glamorgan 4,891
Scotland
Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway 3,113
Central and Fife 2,862
Glasgow City 4,731
Grampian and Tayside 2,607
Highlands and Islands 1,010
Lanarkshire 2,567
Lothian and Borders 3,437
Renfrew, Dumbarton and Argyll 2,769
South East Region
Berkshire and Oxfordshire 1,250
Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire 1,708
Essex 1,741
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 2,134
Kent 2,022
Surrey 475
Sussex 1,868
London Region
Inner London North 5,920
Inner London South 3,356
London East 2,286
London North 3,680
London South 1,693
London West 1,219
South West Region
Avon 2,646
Devon and Cornwall 5,642
Dorset and Somerset 1,868
Gloucester and Wiltshire 1,640
West Midlands Region
Birmingham and Solihull 7,592
Coventry and Warwickshire 2,661
Dudley and Sandwell 2,939
Staffordshire 3,668
The Marches, Hereford/Worcester 2,690
Wolverhampton and Walsall 3,171
East Midlands and Eastern Region
Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire 1,684
Derbyshire 2,938
Leicestershire and Northamptonshire 2,832

Area office Number
Lincolnshire 1,375
Norfolk and Suffolk 3,223
Nottinghamshire 3,393

Mr. Meacher

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in theOfficial Report the level of expenditure so far spent on ET (a) in total, (b) advertising which mentions companies participating in ET through the large contractors unit and (c) (b) as a percentage of (a).

Mr. Cope

[holding answer 22 June 1989]: Total expenditure on (a) employment training (ET) in the seven months to March 1989 was £423.6 million.

Expenditure on (b) poster, press and television advertising which mentions companies participating in ET was £3.1 million in the same period. (b) is 0.7 per cent. of (a).

Three of the six companies mentioned in the television advertising are involved in ET at area office level and not through the LCU.

Mr. Tony Lloyd

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the most recent details of(a) the number of filled places on the 23 large company ET schemes listed in the Official Report, 27 February, column 34, (b) any changes to the maximum number of places allocated for each of those schemes and (c) which of those schemes have since withdrawn from ET.

Mr. Nicholls

[holding answer 4 July 1989]: The table updates to 26 May 1989 the details of the 23 large company ET schemes listed in the Official Report, 27 February, column 34.

The maximum number of places allocated column shows, in brackets, the changes to the figures listed in the Official Report.

None of the schemes listed has withdrawn from employment training.

Company Maximum Number of places Allocated Places filled at 26 May 1989
J. Jarvis and Sons 2,496 (-430) 924
J. Laing Construction 2,178 (-160) 1,032
Henry Boot Construction 569 (-381) 185
Invicta Training (Grand Metropolitan Catering) 715 (-160) 316
Martin James 640 (- 95) 482
Geo. Wimpey 547 (-119) 202
Mowlem 405 138
Comet PLC 374 42
Pilkington 270 (- 30) 226
Ferranti 215 (- 35) 115
Mill Garages Ltd. 170 (- 10) 118
Tower Radio Ltd. 250 108
Portals Engineering Ltd. 250 219
Marley Extrusions Ltd. 200
Ryder Ltd. 150 148
Team Greyfriars Ltd. 200 175
John Lawrence Group 150 32
ICI 100 (- 50) 74
Sumlock Business Services 90 (- 60) 24
R and D Associates 125 (- 33) 144
Simon Engineering 110 66
Coastline Ltd. 70 (- 30) 67
Strategic Marketing 100 66
International Ltd. 100 66

Mr. Tony Lloyd

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many employment training training managers there are (a) nationally and (b) by Training Agency area; and how many are receiving subsidies above the basic grant per trainee.

Mr. Nicholls

[holding answer 26 June 1989]: There are currently 1,251 employment training (ET) training managers. The number of training managers in each Training Agency area is given in the table. Training managers do not receive subsidies but are paid grants to provide training.

Numbers
Scotland
Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway 34
Central and Fife 34
Glasgow City 40
Grampian and Tayside 23
Highlands and Islands 14
Lanarkshire 28
Lothian and Borders 27
Renfrew, Dumbarton and Argyll 33
Northern
Cleveland 38
County Durham 30
Newcastle 37
South Tyne 43
Yorkshire and Humberside
Bradford, Kirklees and Calderdale 17
Humberside 34
Leeds and North Yorkshire 36
Sheffield and Rotherham 23
Wakefield, Barnsley and Doncaster 21
North West
Cheshire 27
Cumbria 8
Greater Manchester Central 30
Greater Manchester East 11
Greater Manchester North 24
Lancashire 26
Merseyside 31
West Midlands
Birmingham and Solihull 29
Coventry and Warwickshire 10
Dudley and Sandwell 18
Staffordshire 20
The Marches 12
Wolverhampton and Walsall 13
East Midlands and Eastern
Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire 12
Derbyshire 21
Leicestershire and Northamptonshire 27
Lincolnshire 8
Norfolk and Suffolk 18
Nottinghamshire 20
Wales
Cardiff 38
Gwent 21
Swansea 43
Wrexham 29
South West
Avon 20
Devon and Cornwall 20
Gloucester and Wiltshire 14
Somerset and Dorset 15
South East
Chatham 9
Chelmsford 15
Fareham 11
High Wycombe 12
Reading 11

Numbers
Sussex 12
Woking 6
London
Inner London North 27
Inner London South 25
London East 13
London North 12
London South 11
London West 10
Total 1,251