§ Mr. Alan Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Employment what action he is taking to ensure that Welsh apprentices who are involved in redundancy are enabled to continue their training; and whether he has information on the number of apprenticeships in Wales which have been terminated and in which trades, because of redundancy.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 1 December 1980]: I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the main responsibility for helping redundant apprentices lies with the industry concerned. Where the employer, assisted by the appropriate industrial training board (ITB) or other industry body, is unable to find an alternative employer, the MSC makes every effort itself to provide continued training. In addition the MSC has allocated nationally a total of approximately £1 million under the training for skills programme in the form of adoption grants to enable ITBs to arrange for continued training. The MSC has been notified of 103 redundant apprentices in Wales so far in 1980. Fifty-eight of these are in the construction industry, 28 in engineering, 16 in road transport and one in distribution.