§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what new courses on job-finding will be provided for steel rundown areas; where they will be located; and what additional resources will be made available for them;
(2) what expansion of retraining facilities is to take place in steel rundown areas;
(3) which new courses on small business training are to be started in steel rundown areas; which courses on how to start small businesses are to be expanded in the same areas; and if there is to be an increase in resources available to the Manpower Services Commission for these purposes;
(4) what extra assistance is to be made available to industrial training boards to help firms take on first or second year craft apprentices made redundant by the steel industry; what estimate he has made of the numbers of such apprentices; and how many of these he expects to be found alternative opportunities of following their training;
(5) what assistance will be available from his Department to assist apprentices other than those in the first or second year of their apprenticeships affected by the rundown of the steel industry to follow their training;
(6) how he proposes that the youth opportunities programme will be modified in steel rundown areas so as to provide special attention to their needs;
(7) what changes he is considering in the present provisions to assist people in the steel rundown areas to move home to take up work elsewhere;
92W(8) what new work assessment and reorientation courses are to be provided for steel rundown areas; where they will be located; when they will commence; and what extra resources will be made available for them.
§ Mr. Jim LesterI shall reply to the right hon. Member as soon as possible.