HC Deb 12 February 1998 vol 306 cc287-8W
Mr. Willetts

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the cost of training 50,000 child-minders under the New Deal; which organisations will be expected to carry out such training; and how many participants are expected to be(a) young people unemployed for more than six months, (b) single parents and (c) others. [27712]

Mr. Andrew Smith

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 28 January 1998,Official Report, column 237, on the number of young people likely to train as childcare workers under the New Deal for 18–24 year olds. Potentially, participants on the New Deal for long-term unemployed people could also train as childcare workers under these options, and participants on the New Deal for lone parents could be helped to find employment as a childcare worker.

There are different arrangements for training and funding young people to become childcare workers for each of the options for the New Deal for 18–24 year olds. On the Voluntary Sector (VS) and Employment options young people will be provided with work experience by voluntary childcare organisations, and by private and local authority nurseries respectively, which will work with training organisations to enable participants to attend an approved childcare course for at least the equivalent of a day per week. On the Full Time Education and Training (FTET) option young people will attend approved childcare courses provided by training organisations. In addition to the allowances that will be payable to participants on the FTET and VS options, voluntary organisations will be paid a placement fee for each participant in the VS option (the amount depending on contract), employers will receive a job subsidy of £60 per week per participant under the Employment option, and training organisations will receive a fee which is negotiated locally under the FTET option. Organisations providing placements on the VS and Employment options, will also be paid £750 per participant for training. The overall cost will depend upon the level of take up on each of the options.