§ Mr. McAllionTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many(a) 16-year-olds and (b) 17-year-olds in (i) Scotland and (ii) the United Kingdom are in receipt of a bridging allowance; and what proportion of those who had exhausted their entitlement to a bridging allowance still had not secured a training place under the youth training scheme.
§ Mr. NichollsOn the 12 October, the latest date for which figures are available, 1,385 young people were in receipt of YTS bridging allowance in Scotland and 8,096 in Great Britain. Separate arrangements apply in Northern Ireland.
The guarantee to young people under 18 who are not in full time employment or education of a suitable YTS place continues to be met nationwide. At the end of September 110,821 YTS places were unfilled out of the 500,000 YTS places in contract.