§ Mr. Kinnockasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many 16 and 17-year-olds would have been registered unemployed each month since April 1978 if the special programmes had not been introduced.
§ Mr. Alison[pursuant to his reply, 17 December 1981,c. 196]: I regret that this information is not available. The numbers of young people on the Youth Opportunities Programme are not collected by age, and include some 18 year olds. The national filled place total for the end of October 1981 was 269,400. It is not known how many 16 and 17-year-olds benefit from other special employment schemes such as the job release scheme and the temporary short-time working compensation scheme.