§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a further statement about the role of the Professional and Executive Recruitment, in particular during the period up to September 1981; if the policy is to concentrate on helping employers fill vacancies, or on helping unemployed professionals and executives; how far information about the numbers of unemployed in various categories on Professional and Executive Recruitment registers is to be used to influence training and educational policy, and how far Professional and Executive Recruitment will have to be financed from income for its services.
§ Mr. Jim LesterFurther to my reply to the hon. Member of 22 April.—[Vol. 983, c. 211]—I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that satisfactory progress is being made on the restyling of the service which it is planned to have in full operation by the end of the year. The re-styling will not change the two main aims of PER which are to provide recruitment services for employers seeking staff at the professional and executive levels, and information and support services to help individuals seeking jobs at that level with their own job hunting efforts.
The planning of course provision under the training opportunities scheme (TOPS) takes account of labour market information including unemployment and 679W vacancy statistics. More especially following a recent internal review of TOPS management training carried out in consultation with PER amongst others, the MSC propose to shift the balance of TOPS provision away from long general management courses towards (a) diagnostic open transfer of employment courses for unemployed managers and (b) short functional courses to fill identified gaps in knowledge/experience.
PER is to continue to operate on a commercial basis, the aim being to recover the full costs of its recruitment services from fee income. The cost of its non-commercial activities will be met from public funds.