§ 51. Mr. Colin Shepherdasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he is satisfied with the uptake of opportunities for youth employment under the work experience programme.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonAt present, about 9,000 young people are entering the youth opportunities programme each week compared with 4,000 at the same time last year. In the first 10 months of this financial year over 275,000 young people took up an opportunity. During the same period, some 8,000 school leavers refused a suitable place on the programme.
The programme is well up to the expected target of 320,000 entrants by the end of this financial year and I am satisfied with the uptake of opportunities by the young people.