§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Employment what opportunities there are for workers who have lost their jobs by the introduction of automated technology in offices and factories to take the highly-skilled new jobs that result.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 3 July 1980, c. 558]: The redeployment of workers whose jobs have been affected by new technology is a matter for the
758W
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 2 July 1980, c. 466]: The number of proposed redundancies notified to my Department under the redundancy handling provisions of the Employment Protection Act 1975 in the first four months of 1980, 1979 and 1978, is as follows:
employers and employees concerned. Many employers have successfully retrained and redeployed their workforce.
The Manpower Services Commission has maintained and expanded its programmes to supplement industry's efforts to ease critical shortages of computer skills, in particular through the training opportunities scheme and the "Threshold" scheme. These schemes are aimed to help the unemployed and those wishing to acquire new skills.