§ Mr. Wallaceasked the Paymaster General what expenditure has been incurred on the new workers scheme since its inception; and what was the level of expenditure for the Government young workers scheme in a comparable period in 1985–86.
§ Mr. LeeThe new workers scheme opened to employers for jobs which started on or after 1 April 1986. Cumulative expenditure to the end of December last year was (provisionally) £2.2 million. Expenditure on the young workers scheme for the period April to December 1985 was some £22.4 million. These figures are not comparable in that they reflect the retrospective and cumulative nature of support under each scheme, one of which had been operating almost four years and the other only 10 months.
§ Mr. Wallaceasked the Paymaster General how many young people in each travel-to-work area in Scotland have taken advantage of the new workers scheme in each travelto-work area in Scotland in the year 1985–86.
§ Mr. LangI have been asked to reply.
The new workers scheme was not announced until the Budget Statement of March 1986 and was therefore not available to young people during the financial year 1985–86. However, at the end of December 1986, there were a total of 2,317 young people in Scotland benefiting from the new workers scheme.
I regret that the information is not available on a travel-to-work area basis.