HC Deb 21 February 1985 vol 73 c515W
Ms. Clare Short

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many people on the community programme are currently undertaking training.

Mr. Peter Morrison

At the end of December about 1,000 people on the community programme were receiving specific off-the-job training under the adult training arrangements announced by my right hon. Friend in his reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Norfolk (Mr. Ryder) on 30 July 1984, at columns 121–22. The Government plan to make available off-the-job training for 50,000 community programme participants. The community programme continues to provide a significant contribution in helping long-term unemployed people into permanent jobs and the addition of this training element should further improve the effectiveness of the programme.

Ms. Clare Short

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many women currently occupying places on the community programme will become ineligible under the new criteria.

Mr. Peter Morrison

The new criteria do not affect people, irrespective of sex or marital status, who have already entered the community programme while they are employed on the programme. Once they have left the programme, everybody has first to satisfy the unemployment eligibility criteria before they can requalify for a place. In addition, they will now normally need to satisfy the benefit eligibility criteria for priority entry to the programme if they wish to take up a further job opportunity under the programme.

Our latest information shows that over 85 per cent. of entrants to the community programme over the last 12 months were benefit recipients just prior to entry. To this should be added those where the head of the household receives benefit payments which enable the partner if unemployed to claim priority and the posts where waivers may have been given for manager, supervisor and key worker jobs where it does not prove possible to recruit benefit recipients. It is therefore not possible to give precise estimates by sex of the numbers who will be unable to claim priority status.