§ Sir Ian Lloydasked the Secretary of State for Energy what retraining programmes for former coal miners have been submitted to the European Commission for funding under article 56(2)(b) of the European Coal and Steel Community treaty for each of the last six years; and what comparative information he has about schemes submitted in other Community countries.
§ Mr. David HuntIn 1985 the National Coal Board introduced a new job and career change scheme (JACCS) under which it provides financial assistance for retraining redundant mineworkers, including the purchase of places on training courses. Discussions are in progress with the Commission on Community financial assistance towards the costs of JACCS.
I understand from the Commission that comparative data on coal industry retraining schemes submitted to them by other member states are not available.