§ Mr. Iain Millsasked the Paymaster General in what circumstances he would be prepared to waive the regulations governing the two-year rule between full-time education and school leaving age for retraining courses organised by the job creation scheme under the Manpower Services Commission; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. TrippierI believe that the hon. Member is referring to the rule under the job training scheme which requires applicants to have spent a total of at least two years away from full-time education since the minimum school-leaving age. The purpose of this rule is to ensure that, with the limited support available, the scheme does not duplicate or replace other forms of initial training. This rule may be waived exceptionally where a national skill shortage would be alleviated by providing applicants normally ineligible under this rule with short courses designed to sharpen the relevance of their education to employment. In addition, the rule is waived for unemployed disabled applicants.
The Government and the Manpower Services Commission keep the rules of this and other training schemes under careful review.