§ Mr. Fosterasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the number of participants in the training opportunities scheme for each year since 1976, for each region and for the United Kingdom as a whole;
Entrants to Training Opportunities Scheme (TOPS) Region 1976/77* 1977/78* 1978/79 1979/80 1980/81† Scotland 13,505 14,529 12,116 11,166 10,725 Northern 17,305 17,308 7,265 6,972 6,749 Y & H 7,045 6,884 6,220 North West 20,408 17,663 15,301 14,086 11,981 Midlands 18,873 16,531 12,134 11,337 11,526 Wales 16,823 15,250 6,035 5,230 5,275 South West 5,969 6,060 5,863 South East 17,570 16,227 13,669 12,782 12,418 London 17,500 15,059 13,849 13,342 11,801 Great Britain‡ 121,984 112,567 93,668 87,841 82,558 * Figures for 1976/77 and 1977/78 include young people. † Provisional. ‡ The Training Opportunities Scheme is restricted to Great Britain.
Proportion of Received Applications to TOPS that were Rejected Region 1976/77* 1977/78* 1978/79 1979/80 1980/81† % % % % % Scotland 8.2 7.0 6.0 5.8 7.5 Northern 21.9 12.0 6.8 5.2 7.2 Y & H 11.0 7.6 10.2 North West 14.0 10.1 10.0 11.1 12.9 Midlands 16.9 9.2 8.1 9.2 10.7 Wales 17.5 7.8 4.8 5.0 9.4 South West 8.8 5.7 7.7 South East 22.0 11.4 9.3 8.9 10.3 London 28.2 17.9 12.7 14.4 9.8 Great Britain 18.7 10.8 8.9 8.9 9.7 * Includes Young People. † Figures for 1980/81 are based on only the first six months of the year. Information on the proportion of rejections that were due to failure of the English is not available.
The above figures do not include those people who show an interest in TOPS training, but who are unable to make an application because they are not prima facie considered eligible for a course; or because places are not available.