§ Mr. Youngerasked the Secretary of State for Employment what arrangements 29W there now are for newly qualified teachers who are unable to get employment as teachers to participate in job creation schemes in the months immediately following the completion of teacher training courses.
§ Mr. GoldingI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that unemployed teachers will be eligible to take up places on job creation schemes in which vacancies arise prior to the programmes' closing date of 31st December 1978. The job creation programme is being replaced by two new schemes to combat unemployment—the youth opportunities programme and the special temporary employment programme. These two programmes commenced on 3rd April 1978.
The special temporary employment programme will provide 25,000 temporary employment opportunities, in addition to which there will be openings for up to 8,000 adults to act in a supervisory or managerial capacity in projects mounted under the youth opportunities programme. It is expected that a number of such openings would be suitable for unemployed teachers.
The purpose of the special temporary employment programme is to provide temporary jobs as an alternative to prolonged unemployment. The Government have decided that preference should be given to those aged 19 to 24 who have been unemployed for six months or more and to those aged 25 and over who have been unemployed for 12 months or more. Where no suitably qualified candidates are available, people who have been unemployed for shorter periods may be recruited.