§ Mr. Fosterasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will replace the 28,000 places in the youth training scheme he recently reduced in voluntary and community work with places in industry;
(2) what consultations he has had with voluntary organisations regarding his proposal to reduce the number of places in voluntary and community work under the youth training scheme;
(3) what consideration he has given to the effect that his proposal to reduce the number of voluntary and community places in the youth training scheme may have on voluntary organisations.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe Government believe that as many as possible of the young people entering the youth training scheme should be catered for under employer-based mode A schemes. In the circumstances I am satisfied that we will need fewer mode B1 places in 1984–85 than were approved for this year, particularly since at the end of December only 54,300 of the mode B1 places were occupied. The implications for individual schemes run by voluntary organisations will not be clear until local consultations on the number and location of the schemes which will be needed have been completed.
§ Mr. Fosterasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many of those eligible for the youth training scheme do not currently have a place in each English region.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe information is not available in the form requested. However, it is particularly encouraging to note that our undertaking to offer all last year's unemployed minimum age school leavers places by Christmas was effectively met. The figures of those remaining without a definite offer were as follows:
155W
English Regions Numbers Northern 258 North West 467 Yorkshire and Humberside 941 Midlands 801 South West 185 South East 350
English Regions Numbers London 431 TOTAL 3,433
§ Mr. Fosterasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many people are at present receiving training under the youth training scheme in each English region.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonAt the end of December the numbers were as follows:
English Region Numbers Northern 19,303 North West 38,954 Yorks and Humberside 26,805 South West 20,172 South East 42,105 London 15,589 TOTAL 216,323