§ Mr. Allen McKayasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) whether he proposes to continue to subsidise jobs in the Penistone constituency area after the initial period has terminated; and what is his policy in relation to new requests for employment subsidy;
(2) if he expects that the policy of Her Majesty's Government will allow the number of jobs being supported by employment subsidies in the Penistone constituency area to continue at their present rate.
§ Mr. Jim LesterThe jobs currently being supported by employment subsidies in the Penistone constituency area will continue to be supported, subject to the conditions of the schemes at the time of application, including the maximum periods of payment.
New applications by firms in the Penistone constituency area must be received by 30 June 1979 for the small firms employment subsidy and by 31 March 1980 for the temporary short time working compensation scheme.
§ Mr. Allen McKayasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the number of firms by name and the number of jobs being supported by employment subsidies in the Penistone constituency area and give a breakdown of figures by industrial classification.
§ Mr. Jim LesterI regret that information is not available in the precise form, requested. Statistics on employment measures run by my Department are kept 99W by employment office areas. The figures quoted below therefore relate to the Barnsley, Sheffield, Hoyland and Chapel-town employment office areas, which cover the Penistone constituency and parts of Barnsley and Sheffield which lie outside the constituency. Applications for the subsidies are treated as confidential, and the names of applicants are not released without the consent of the firms concerned.
100W
Temporary short-time working compensation* Small firms employment subsidy Short-time working compensation† Standard Industrial Classification Applications approved Jobs involved Applications approved Jobs claimed for Applications approved Jobs involved 3. Food, drink and tobacco — — 10 26 — — 4. Coal and petroleum products — — — — — — 5. Chemicals and allied industries — — — — — — 6. Metal manufacture 3 680 18 36 — — 7. Mechanical engineering — — 24 92 — — 8. Instrument engineering — — 1 — — — 9. Electrical engineering — — 3 23 — — 10. Shipbuilding and marine engineering — — 2 5 — — 11. Vehicles — — 6 12 — — 12. Metal goods not specified else-where 2 63 115 234 — — 13. Textiles — — 1 — — — 14. Leather, leather goods and fur — — — — — — 15. Clothing and footwear — — 8 67 — — 16. Bricks pottery glass, cement etc. — — 6 37 — — 17. Timber furniture — — 14 84 — — 18. Paper printing and publishing — — 10 20 — — 19. Other manufacturing — — 13 106 — — 20. Construction — — — — — — 22. Transport and communication — — — — — — 23. Distributive trades — — — — — — 24. Insurance, finance, banking and business services — — — — — — 25. Professional and scientific services — — — — — — 26. Miscellaneous services — — — — — — TOTAL 5 743 231 742 Nil Nil * This scheme was introduced on 1 April 1979 for firms in all sectors of industry. † This scheme was introduced on 15 May 1978for firms in the textile. Clothing and footwear sectors and closed for applications on 31 March 1979. As at 21 May, a cumulative total of 119 applications for temporary employment subsidy had been approved since the inception of the scheme in August 1975, covering a total of 6,910 jobs. An analysis of these figures by industry could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
An industrial breakdown of the support currently provided by the other subsidy schemes is given in the schedule which follows: