§ Mr. Irvingasked the Prime Minister if she will estimate how many people have been involved in community service schemes supported by the Government in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.
§ The Prime MinisterAs I explained in my reply to a question from my hon. Friend on 24 July 1985, at columns 535–37, the concept of "community service" is very wide. Some (but not all) of the work done by or through voluntary organisations which are funded by Government Departments under various powers may be described as "community service", but it is not practicable to identify the numbers of people involved, often on a voluntary or part-time basis, in such a variety of social and environmental projects. I regret that no estimate can therefore be made of the total numbers of people involved in Government supported community service schemes. Some information is, however, available about the number of persons who have taken part in schemes which have enabled unemployed people to offer service to the community, and I shall write to my hon. Friend about this.