§ Mr. Terry Davisasked the Secretary of State for Employment what actual take-up of community programme places there has been in Birmingham; and whether there are any plans to reduce the number of places available.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonAt the end of October 2,990 places under the Community Programme were occupied in Birmingham. I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend's reply to my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Eltham (Mr. Bottomley) on 16 November— [Vol. 48, c. 481.]—when he announced that an additional £10 million had been provided for the programme but that the filling of places in the remainder of this financial year would be carefully controlled in order to remain within the revised cash limit. The objective remains to run the Programme on the basis of 130,000 filled places.