§ Mr. Barry Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Employment when he proposes to lay orders before Parliament regarding the abolition of 16 industrial training boards; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter Morrison[pursuant to his reply, 22 March 1982, c. 249]: My right hon. Friend intends to lay statutory instruments in two batches to give effect to the decisions he announced on 16 November 1981. I anticipate that the first of these will be laid early in May and the second about a month later. The first batch is likely to include the air transport and travel, carpet, chemical and allied products, footwear leather and furskin, iron and steel, knitting, lace and net, man-made fibres producing, road transport and wool, jute and flax industry training boards.
Merseyside special development area Liverpool employment office area March 1979 October 1981 March 1979 October 1981 Carpenters and joiners 581 1,005 64 133 Electricians 155 325 25 47 Linesmen and cable jointers 1 9 — 1 Heating and ventilating engineering fitters 24 70 4 6 Plumbers and pipe fitters 195 494 25 37 Scaffolders (metal scaffolding) 106 194 16 36 Other steel erectors and riggers and cable splicers 215 404 33 66 Painters and decorators 654 798 120 117 Bricklayers and stone setters 434 864 42 104 Plasterers 277 431 39 47 Terrazzo workers and tile setters 27 34 6 5 Roofers 122 255 16 32 Glaziers 5 35 — 9 General builders 205 339 17 45 Pipe layers and jointers 22 66 2 13 Concreters 9 15 1 2 Earth movers and civil engineering equipment operators 47 113 5 12 Crane, hoist and other materials handling equipment operators 84 221 2 14 Total 3,163 5,672 417 726
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report a breakdown of the number of unemployed in the different trades in the building industry in England and Wales at the latest date together with comparable figures for March 1979.
§ Mr. AlisonThe following table gives for March 1979 and October 1981, the last date for which the information is available, the numbers of unemployed people registered at employment offices in England and Wales for employment in skilled construction occupations.
382W
March 1979 October 1981 Carpenters and joiners 7,681 15,619 Electricians 1,899 5,335 Linesmen and cable jointers 75 143 Heating and ventilating engineering fitters 413 1,191 This timetable depends on employer organisations making continued progress in setting up alternative non-statutory training arrangements. My right hon. Friend will not lay orders until he is satisfied with progress in the industry concerned.