§ 58. Mr. Dykesasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he is satisfied with the amount of money the United Kingdom receives from the European Community budget to use in employment and training.
§ Mr. AlisonThere can be no doubt that assistance from the European Community makes a significant contribution to training and employment opportunities in this country.
The European social fund is the main Community instrument concerned with labour market matters, and it 88W provides grants in respect of training and employment schemes. In addition, the European Coal and Steel Community provides reconversion loans for projects which will employ redundant coal and steel workers, and re-adaptation grants for redundancy payments and retraining of schemes for former coal and steel workers. The European regional development fund and European Investment Bank provide finance in the form of loans and grants for investment and development projects in the assisted areas. The total amount of assistance allocated to the United Kingdom under these instruments in 1980 was some £459 million. The social fund is due to be reviewed by the end of 1982. The United Kingdom would like to see the fund give greater emphasis to the needs of young people, to areas of high unemployment, particularly those affected by the decline in traditional manufacturing industries, and to meet the training needs arising out of the introduction of new technology.