§ Ms. Clare Shortasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what is the net cost per person per week of the community programme;
(2) what was the net cost per person per week at current price levels of the community enterprise programme;
(3) how many people are currently occupying places on the community programme;
(4) what is the average length of stay on the community programme;
(5) what is the age distribution of participants in the community programme;
(6) how many women are currently occupying places on the community programme;
(7) if he will provide figures on the ethnic minority representation among participants in the community programme;
(8) how many full-time and part-time jobs are provided on the community programme;
(9) if he will provide details of the distribution of places amongst different kinds of sponsors on the community programme;
(10) if he will provide details of the different types of work which are made available on the community programme;
(11) if he will provide details of the proportion of workers on the community programme who obtained employment on leaving the scheme and were in employment six months after leaving the scheme;
(12) how many people currently on the community programme have been offered training;
(13) what is the duration of training offered to people on the community programme;
(14) what type of training is offered to people on the community programme.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe 1985 public expenditure White Paper (Cmnd. 9428) estimates the gross cost of a community programme place in the previous year as some £4,290 per year, and its net cost per person no longer unemployed as some £2,200 per year. In a memorandum to the Public Accounts Committee on 28 February 1983, para. 9.4, the Comptroller and Auditor General estimated the net Exchequer cost of the community enterprise programme per person no longer unemployed as between £2,000 and £2,600 per year. It is not possible without 585W incurring disproportionate expense to provide useful and reliable estimates of the net costs of a place on the community programme or the community enterprise programme.
At the end of January 1985, 131,297 people were employed on the community programme, and survey evidence indicates that their average stay is 9.1 months. Over the past 12 months, 33.8 per cent. of entrants have been aged 18 to 20; 26.4 per cent. 21 to 24, and 39.6 per cent. 25 and over. Around 23 per cent. of entrants over the past 12 months have been women. Community programme entrants are not classified by ethnic origin, but sample surveys indicate that between 4 and 9 per cent. of programme participants are from ethnic minorities.
At the end of January 1985, 38,464 full-time jobs and 92,833 part-time jobs were provided under the programme. By the nature of the contractual arrangements possible under the community programme, it is not possible to classify the actual sponsor of every project. However, the best available information suggests that some 45 per cent. of places were provided by or through local authorities, and most of the remainder by or through voluntary organisations. Evidence from sample surveys suggests that the commonest principal activities on projects were environmental and landscaping (29 per cent.) and building and construction work (17 per cent.) followed by research and surveys, decorating, and social services for old people, although a great variety of other work of community benefit was also performed under the programme.
Recent sample survey evidence indicates that around 50 per cent. of community programme participants received training. The type of training available to participants
Construction Industry, Scotland 1979–83 1979 1980 1981 1982 *1983 Deaths to employees 25 16 22 18 13 Deaths to non-employees (1) 2 2 5 4 4 Total Deaths 27 18 27 22 17 Major injuries to employees n/a n/a 244 284 † Major injuries to non-employees n/a n/a 4 4 † Total major injuries (2) n/a n/a 248 288 † Employees (thousands) 164 161 144 128 125 * provisional n/a not available † not readily available (1) Before 1981, deaths to non-employees were reported on a voluntary basis only and are therefore not directly comparable with figures for 1981 to 1983 which are based on reports resulting from a specific requirement under the Notification of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (NADOR) 1980. (2) Numbers of major injuries as defined in NADOR were not collected before 1981.