§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment what are the total resources that have been allocated to Wales to date under the job creation scheme; how much of this sum has been allocated, and how much spent to date; and what is the total number of job weeks that have (a) already been secured under the scheme and (b) which are associated with finance already allocated but not yet spent.
§ Mr. GoldingI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that, to date, £12.5 million has been allocated to Wales under the Job Creation Programme, of which £10.6 million has been allocated to approved projects. To date, £3.4 million has been claimed by sponsors. The approved projects provide employment for approximately 227,000 man-weeks, of which just over 27,000 are on projects not yet started.
The commission will shortly be announcing a further allocation of funds to Wales.
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§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will extend the job creation scheme to permit local authorities to use such funds for repairing council houses.
§ Mr. GoldingNo. The Job Creation Programme is not intended to fund labour costs for work, which is the normal responsibility of the sponsor.