Mr. John D. TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of the annual saving from the closure of Dundonald training centre; how many staff are employed at the centre; how many persons were trained in the centre in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [9276]
§ Mr. AncramResponsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Training and Employment Agency under its chief executive, Mr. Ian Walters. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
690WLetter from Ian Walters to Mr. John D. Taylor, dated 18 December 1996:
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has asked me, as Chief Executive of the Training & Employment Agency (T&EA), to reply to your question about the proposed closure of Dundonald Training Centre.The closure of Dundonald Training Centre will result in estimated programme expenditure savings of £1.2 million in a full financial year. This saving will be offset by the cost of providing Jobskills training for young people at other training organisations which will be in the region of £500,000 per year.At present, 40 staff are employed at Dundonald Training Centre. We will seek to avoid compulsory redundancies through re-deployment to other Agency Training Centres, voluntary premature retirement and natural wastage.In each of the past three years the number of people who enrolled for training at Dundonald Training Centre was as follows:
Year Numbers of trainees 1996–97 1328 1995–96 327 1994–95 304 1At 13 December 1996. The Agency will ensure that all trainees currently at Dundonald Training Centre are allowed to complete their agreed period of training at the Centre. Following the closure of the Centre, trainees who, in accordance with their training programme, are placed with employers for their further training will be supervised by staff from other parts of the Agency's Training Centre network.
I hope you find this information useful.