§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Secretary of State for Employment what investigation the Manpower Services Commission has made of the take-up by young persons of places under the special measures programmes; whether any evidence of growing resistance has been identified by the commission; and what information there is as to the incidence of young persons declining opportunities provided under the youth opportunities programme due to the level of the allowance paid.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonAt the end of January 1981 over 275,000 young people had entered the youth opportunities programme since April 1980. During the same period some 8,000 school leavers had refused the offer of a suitable place on the programme. For the same period last year, some 183,000 young people had entered the YOP and 3,000 school leavers had refused a suitable place on the programme.
About 9,000 young people enter the programme each week at present, compared with about 4,000 at the same time last year.
27WTaken together, these figures suggest that the level of the allowance is still acting as an incentive to young people to take part in the programme.
Informal inquiries indicate that those young people who refuse opportunities, do so for a number of reasons, only one of which may be the level of the allowance paid.