§ Mr. ClellandTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list all current training schemes and measures to reduce unemployment; and if he will give any details of(a) the number of people participating at any one time and (b) the separate and overall expenditure in each case.
Mr. JacksonMost of the current training schemes and Employment Service measures to reduce unemployment are detailed in the Employment Department's annual report (Cm 1506) published on 13 February 1991, copies of which have been placed in the House of Commons Library. Planned expenditure for 1991–92 on training schemes is also given.
Currently it is estimated that there are 157,000 adults and about 300,000 young people on Government training programmes. Around 50,000 people are assisted by enterprise allowance at any one time.
Information on the numbers currently participating on ES measures is not available. However, planned expenditure for ES programmes in 1991–92, together with the number of places available is as follows:
56W
Programme 1991–92 programme (£ millions) Places/numbers helped Jobclubs 27.5 156,000 Job Interview Guarantee 4.1 39,000 Restart Courses 8.1 90,000
Programme 1991–92 programme (£ millions) Places/numbers helped Jobsearch Seminars 2.5 40,000 Travel to Interview Scheme 1.2 25,000 Jobshare 0.6 1132 Joblink (Pilot) 0.3 900 Programme Development Funds 3.0 2— Employment Rehabilitation 8.6 43,700 Sheltered Employment Programmes (including Remploy) 121.5 20,900 Special Programmes for People with Disabilities 13.0 9,400 In addition to the sums shown above and those published in the annual report, further funding has been provided, as follows:
In February 1991 a further £120 million was made available for Employment Training.In March 1991 an extra £55 million was also provided for the ES to maintain customer service standards and to provide an enhanced placings service, through job referral teams, for recently unemployed people who are job ready and do not need further advice on how to look for work.On 19 June an extra £100 million was announced to provide a comprehensive package of measures including:
- a new programme, employment action, which will help 40,000 people at a cost of £48.5 million;
- Employment Training to be increased by a further £35 million to help a further 15,000 people;
- an expansion of Employment Service measures to help 135,000 people through expansion of job clubs (places for extra 40,000 people), Restart courses and assessment/counselling activities (to help 95,000 people).
In total we are providing 840,000 opportunities this year and 900,000 opportunities next year to help get people back into work as quickly as possible. This represents the most comprehensive range of help and advice ever made available to the unemployed.
- (1) This is the number currently being supported.
- (2) Programme development funds are used by the ES to participate in and develop local initiatives to help reduce unemployment in areas of particular need. They are not directly linked to particular schemes or programmes.
- (3) Table shows GB total.