§ Mr. Maclennanasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will exempt from the expenditure guidelines issued to local authorities the spending which they incur in supplying places under the YTS and other special measures concerned with the relief of unemployment; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Allan StewartIn Scotland, Government expenditure on the new two-year YTS alone is expected to be over £90 million in 1986–87. Since, like any other employer, local authorities stand to benefit from a better638W trained work force as a result of participation in the new YTS, I see no case for exempting their contribution from comparison with the guidelines which cover local authority expenditure as a whole. Such exemptions or disregards are only made in very exceptional circumstances. I wrote to the hon. Member about this on 22 July.
Some local authorities choose voluntarily to add to the Government funds available for employment measures such as the community programme, particularly for participants' wages. Such decisions are for local authorities to make in the light of their own priorities.
The participation of local authorities in YTS and employment measures is greatly appreciated and I hope it will continue.