§ Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Employment what further steps he intends to take to reduce unemployment.
§ Mr. GoldingThe special employment and training measures which my right hon. Friend announced on 15th March are still developing. In particular, the youth opportunities programme and the special temporary employment scheme came into operation on 1st April. From the same date the job release scheme was extended to cover the whole country, and from 1st July the allowance for a married person with a dependent spouse—earning £8.50 a week or less—will be increased to £35 tax free. The short-time working scheme for the textiles, clothing and footwear industries came into operation on 15th May, and we are also engaged in consultations on a general scheme of compensation for short-time working as a means of averting redundancies.