§ Mr. du Cannasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many publications in the Network and Actions campaigns have been published to date by the Manpower Services Commission; what is the average number of each issue produced; and what is the total cost of their compilation, production and distribution;
670W
- (2) what evidence he has that the Network and Actions publications produced by the Manpower Services Commission have produced results which would not have been obtained without the expenditure of taxpayers' money involved;
- (3) how many names and addresses are on the mailing list for the Network
regional figures for notified redundancies given below mostly relate, therefore, to West Yorkshire.
The figures provided include many voluntary redundancies and early retirements and some natural wastage, but these cannot be identified separately. Nor is it possible to estimate the total number of jobs in West Yorkshire which have been lost in this way.
and Actions publications produced by the Management Services Commission; and how the list was compiled;
- (4) how many business reply cards enclosed with the recent issues of Network and Actions have been returned to the Manpower Services Commission;
- (5) when the production and distribution of Network and Actions by the Management Services Commission commenced; and what is the target readership for these publications.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 12 February 1980]: I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that Network was launched in November 1977. Its primary function was to provide sponsors of schemes designed to help unemployed young people, the 671W careers service and local authorities, with up to date information during the launch of the youth opportunities programme and the special temporary employment programme.
The original list of recipients consisted of all careers officers, chief executives and chief educational officers of local authorities sponsors of work experience schemes and colleges of further education—making a total circulation of 37,000. After the launch of the new programmes, the role of Network was expanded to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and experience as well as the flow of detailed information about policy and developments in Special Programmes.
Fourteen editions of Network have been published.
Actions was launched in September, 1978. Its function was to provide deeper information about special programmes than was possible within the confines of Network and to improve the quality of new and existing schemes by publicising improved standards and practice.
The first issue of Actions was distributed to the Network mailing list with a pre-paid card asking those who wished to receive future editions to return the card. This provided Actions with an eventual mailing list of around 17,000. Eight regular editions of Actions and four special issues dealing exclusively with one specific subject have been published.
A review is currently taking place to assess the contribution of Network and Actions to the success of special programmes. This review has included the issue of a pre-paid reply card to the Actions readership to ask those wishing to continue to receive the publications to return it. By 7 February 1980, 1,362 cards had been returned. This is part of a general review of special programmes publications, intended to improve their cost effectiveness and relevance to their markets. Cost to date of publishing and distributing Network, Actions and the special editions has been £169,000.