§ Mr. BeggsTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what was the trainee intake at(a) Enniskillen, (b) Londonderry, (c) Omagh and (d) Newry training centres in each of the years 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96 and 1996–97; and how many of the trainees who enrolled in each year, in each centre, were normally resident in the Republic of Ireland; [18566]
(2) what is the estimated annual cost of a training place at each Government training centre in Northern Ireland; [18565]
(3) how much was paid to trainees at Government training centres in Northern Ireland in respect of board and lodging charges in each of the last five years for which records are available. [18567]
§ 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.
Letter from Ian Walters to Mr. Roy Beggs, dated 10 March 1997
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has asked me, as Chief Executive of the Training and Employment Agency (T and EA), to reply to your questions about the Agency's Training Centres.
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Parliamentary Question 418 (Ref: 18566)
Trainee intake figures for 1992/93 and 1993/94 cannot be made available, other than at disproportionate cost, in a form which permits meaningful comparison between Training Centres or with subsequent years. For those 2 years the information available is based on funding provided for numbers of trainee-weeks. To ensure consistency therefore I am providing recruitment figures for the last 3 years which are as follow:
Centre 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 Enniskillen 105 155 159 Springtown 319 321 313 Maydown 161 261 136 Omagh 152 178 198 Newry 169 197 214 Any attempt on the part of the Agency to estimate how many of the trainees were normally resident in the Republic of Ireland would be purely speculative. In order to be eligible for entry to the Youth training Programme and subsequently the Jobskills Programme, trainees were required to be resident in Northern Ireland at the time of their application.
Parliamentary Question 420 (Ref: 18565)
The estimated annual cost of a training place in the Training Centre Network for the 1996–97 financial year is £5,261. Funding and apportionment arrangements are such that it is not possible to provide separately the cost of a training place at each Training Centre at other than a wholly disproportionate cost. Financial information systems being installed will enable the Agency to provide this information in the future.
Parliamentary Question 421 (ref: 18567)
The following amounts were paid in respect of board and lodging charges in each of the last five years:
- 1992–93: £102,453
- 1993–94: £144,915
- 1994–95: £125,123
- 1995–96: £66,889
- 1996–97: £61,664 (provisional)
I hope you find the information useful.