§ Mr. Baldryasked the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment the Manpower Services Commission has made of the extra cost of having a trainee allowance of £55 per week on the youth training scheme and the impact such cost would have on the money available for training.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonNo such assessment has been made by the Manpower Services Commission, but, if the number of entrants and their duration on the youth training scheme remained at their planned levels, the cost of increasing the trainee allowance to £55 per week would be around £430 million in 1985–86. This would result in more than the whole of the £780 million set aside for the scheme in 1985–86 being required for the allowance, with no funds at all being available to meet other training costs. Clearly, the scheme could not possibly be operated on such a basis. Were the allowance to be increased to £55, the only way that the scheme could continue to provide training of the present kind and quality within existing funding would be by greatly reducing the number of youngsters on the scheme.
§ Mr. Sheermanasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give, from the survey of youth training scheme providers reported to the last meeting of the Manpower Services Commission's youth training 434W board, the number and proportion of trainees on mode A, mode B1 and mode B2 schemes, respectively, who will spend fewer than 13 weeks off-the-job training.
§ Mr. Peter Morrison[pursuant to his reply, 28 March 1985, c. 144]: The survey of youth training scheme providers, which covered 49,764 trainees (38,756 on mode A, 7,599 on mode B1 and 3,409 on mode B2) shows the minimum length of off-the-job training offered by schemes in the 1983–84 year. In modes A and B2 the proportion of trainees on schemes offering a minimum of less than 13 weeks off-the-job training was 2 per cent., which is not considered statistically significant. The survey shows that mode A schemes were offering on average a minimum of 15 weeks off-the-job training and 19 weeks on average for mode B2 schemes. For mode B1 the survey indicated that 7 per cent. of the trainees covered were on schemes which offered a minimum of less than 13 weeks off-the-job training though, on average, mode B1 schemes were offering a minimum of 15 weeks off-the-job training.
§ Mr. Sheermanasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give, from the survey of youth training scheme leavers reported to the last meeting of the youth training board, the number and proportion of mode A, mode B1 and mode B2 work experience placements provided in each of the industrial categories used in the survey, and in each of the occupational training families.
§ Mr. Peter Morrison[pursuant to his reply, 28 March 1985, c. 144]: Information is not available in the precise form requested. The youth training scheme providers survey did not collect information on the number and proportion of work experience places by occupational training families, nor did it cover work placements provided in mode B1.
The survey covered 28,586 mode A and 2,032 mode B2 work placements and the table shows the industrial distribution of these placements by standard industrial classification.
Industrial distribution of work experience placements 1983–84 Industry (SIC 1980) Mode A† per cent. Mode B2† per cent. 0 Agriculture, forestry, fishing 2 *0 1 Energy and water *0 — 2 Extractions; manufacture of metals, minerals, chemicals 4 1 3 Metal goods, engineering, vehicles 12 17 4 Other manufacturing 6 13 5 Construction 4 9 6 Distribution, hotel and catering, repairs 41 37 7 Transport and communication 1 3 8 Banking, finance, insurance, business services 6 2 9 Other services 22 17 Not stated 3 *0 * Less than 0.5 per cent. but more than 0.0 per cent. † The column totals do not add up to exactly 100 per cent. due to rounding.
§ Mr. Sheermanasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give, from the survey of youth training scheme providers reported to the last meeting of the Manpower Services Commission's youth training board (a) the number and proportion of mode A managing agents who require prospective trainees to have one or 435W more O-levels and (b) the number and proportion of mode B1 and mode B2 sponsors, respectively, who require prospective trainees to have one or more O-levels.
§ Mr. Peter Morrison[pursuant to his reply, 28 March 1985, c. 144]: The youth training scheme providers survey covered a sample of 464 managing agents and sponsors (236 mode A schemes, 148 mode B1 schemes and 80 mode B2 schemes). The proportions of these schemes requiring some or all of their trainees to have one or more O-levels are:
Percentage Mode A 15 Mode B1 2 Mode B2 3
§ Mr. Sheermanasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give, from the survey of youth training scheme providers reported to the last meeting of the Manpower Services Commission's youth training board, the number and proportion of mode A managing agents who deploy, per 100 trainees (a) fewer than three (b) from three to five, (c) from six to eight, (d) from nine to 11, (e) from 12 to 14 and (f) more than 14 full-time equivalent staff in managing, administering, and providing off-the-job training for their scheme.
§ Mr. Peter Morrison[pursuant to his reply, 28 March 1985, c. 144]: The information requested from the youth training scheme providers survey, which covered a representative sample of 236 mode A managing agents, is as follows. The ratio of staff to trainees is very largely dependent on the extent to which a managing agent subcontracts off-the-job training to other providers.
Number of full-time equivalent staff per 100 trainees* Percentage of managing agents Fewer then 3 9 3–5 19 6–8 20 9–11 11 12–14 10 More then 14 30 Not answered 1 * Refers to filled places in March 1984.