§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on how much money his Department has contributed to retraining, training and employment schemes and job clubs and all other projects to reduce unemployment in Waveney in each of the past 10 years; and what his forward plans are for the next three years.
Mr. Jackson[holding answer 14 May 1991]: The information is not available in the form requested. However, in the last 10 years the Employment Department has provided a range of opportunities to assist the unemployed in the Waveney area, including youth training, community programme, employment training, advisory services to jobseekers and job clubs. Although, because of changes to the content and collation of statistics, comparable figures are not available for previous years, in the last two financial years, 1989–90 and 1990–91, my Department has allocated a total of £842,735 million to the east midlands and eastern region to assist training and unemployment measures.
The Government are determined to ensure that unemployed people have the best possible advice and support to help them to find jobs and to provide special help where it is needed. On training, this year Government are spending more than two and half times in real terms the amount spent in 1978–79.
In the future training and enterprise provision will be delivered by the training and enterprise councils. Norfolk 303W and Waveney TEC has been allocated a budget of £20 million in 1991–92 to enable it to plan and deliver training and enterprise provision in its area. The TEC will be paying particular attention to the needs of the unemployed.
Employment service offices in Waveney offer a full range of programmes and services to help unemployed people back to work, including advisory interviews, job club, job interview guarantee, travel to interview scheme, Restart courses and jobsearch seminars. The employment service Norfolk and Suffolk area office has a programme budget of £549,400 in 1991–92.