§ Mr. Merlyn Reesasked the Paymaster General what was the number of authorised and filled community programme places in the inner city task force areas on 3I December 1986 and 31 January 1987, respectively; what is the planned number of authorised and filled places in those areas in 1987–88; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeOn 12 December 1986 and 31 January 1987 the number of filled places on the community programme in the eight inner city task force areas was 4,330 and 4,711 respectively. The December figures were collected early due to the Christmas holiday period.
Authorised places normally exceed the number of filled places in order to ensure that there are sufficient places available to replace the normal turnover in projects and to provide scope for increasing the range of projects funded in these areas of high priority. The number of authorised places on 12 December 1986 and 31 January 1987 was 5,638 and 5,608 respectively.
Current plans provide for an increase in the number of filled places in the eight inner city task force areas to 6,350 next year, in line with the priority given by the MSC to the 443W inner cities when allocating places on the programme. No targets are set for authorised places, although the number will also rise.