§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Employment, if he will list the successes of his Department in reducing unemployment in the north-west of England in 1984.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkDetails of the number of people in the north-west who benefited from my Department's employment and training measures in 1984 are as follows:
- —there were 24,474 entrants to the community programme, which provides temporary employment for long-term unemployed adults;
- —there were 13,974 successful applications for support under the young workers scheme, which is designed to help young people into jobs;
- —8,363 people started up their own businesses under the enterprise allowance scheme;
- —3,718 older workers gave up work early and released their jobs to unemployed people under the job release scheme;
- —there were 1,471 entrants to the community industry scheme, which provides temporary jobs for personally and socially disadvantaged young people;
- —employers split 38 jobs, involving 76 employees, under the job splitting scheme which encourages employers to open up more part-time opportunities for unemployed people.
In addition, there were 57,222 entrants to the youth training scheme, which provides up to a year's high quality training to enable young people to compete more effectively in the labour market.
But the only way to achieve a substantial impact on unemployment in the north-west and elsewhere is for the Government to maintain their economic policies while encouraging greater enterprise, flexibility and competitiveness in industry and the labour market.