§ Ms. ShortTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish the average amount of compensation paid in 1987 to(a) those young people who have suffered major injuries on YTS and (b) the families of those young people who have had a fatal accident on YTS.
§ Mr. CopeI regret that the information is not available in the precise form requested and can only be obtained at a disproportionate cost. The total amount of benefit of £583,393 paid by the Training Agency's industrial injuries scheme from 1 January 1987 to 31 December 1987 includes payments made on minor injuries. Some of this sum shown relates to continuing benefits payable to trainees who were injured in previous years. Assessment of an average amount of benefit by period would therefore be misleading.
In line with the Department of Social Security's statutory industrial injuries scheme regulations, which the Training Agency must mirror, four families claimed and received an industrial death grant of £78 and one family claimed and received an industrial death grant of £52.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he intends to discuss with local authority representatives the details of the YTS guarantee in Wales and each of the standard regions.
§ Mr. CopeMy right hon. Friend will be meeting the local authority associations later this month to discuss training matters.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many approved YTS places are50W available in Wales and each of the standard economic regions at the latest date for which the information is available.
§ Mr. CopeI regret that the information is not available for the standard regions. However, figures for the number of agreed YTS places for Wales and the Training Agency regions which were unfilled on 30 September 1988, the latest date for which information is available, are provided in the table below:
Numbers Wales 3,500 Northern 6,700 North West 13,900 Yorkshire and Humberside 8,200 West Midlands 19,900 East Midlands and Eastern 13,600 South West 10,900 London 11,300 South East 16,800
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many 16 and 17-year-olds are on YTS in Wales in each of the standard economic regions for the latest date for which the information is available.
§ Mr. CopeFigures for all trainees on YTS training in Wales and in each of the Training Agency regions on 30 September 1988, the latest date for which information is available, are provided below:
Numbers Wales 25,900 Northern 33,200 North West 67,900 Yorkshire and Humberside 51,900 West Midlands 51,700 East Midlands and Eastern 52,300 South West 34,400 London 22,100 South East 45,800 These figures include a small proportion of trainees who have passed their 18th birthday.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the total number of 16 and 17-year-olds on the YTS or equivalent youth programme in each of the years 1979 to 1988 inclusive for Wales and each of the standard English regions.
§ Mr. CopeFigures for trainees on YTS training in Wales and in each of the Training Agency regions of England for the financial years 1985–86 to 1987–88 are given in the table below. Figures for earlier years are not readily available.
1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 Wales 16,000 18,700 22,200 Northern 18,100 22,700 27,900 North West 39,400 46,100 58,900 Yorkshire and Humberside 28,200 31,300 42,100 West Midlands 54,900 39,100 46,900 East Midlands 34,700 45,700 South West 20,800 23,000 30,000 London 15,800 16,500 20,100 South East 41,100 31,800 41,000 Note: The figures include a small proportion of trainees who have passed their 18th birthday.
51W
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the total number of 16 and 17-year-olds on the YTS or equivalent youth programmes in each of the years 1979 to 1988, inclusive.
§ Mr. CopeAverage figures for the number of trainees in training for the financial years 1979–80 to 1987–88 inclusive are given in the table:
Year Trainees 1979–80 177,300 1980–81 1127,500 1981–82 1188,400 1982–83 1256,800 1983–84 2242,300 1984–85 3267,000 1985–86 3264,000 1986–87 3 4296,300 1987–88 3376,000 1 Figures relate to the Youth Opportunities Programme (YOP). 2 This figure includes 81,300 trainees on YOP and 161,000 on YTS. 3 Figures relate to YTS. 4 Two year YTS commenced in April 1986. Note: The figures include a small proportion of trainees who have passed their 18th birthday.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the total expenditure in YTS in Scotland, Wales and each of the standard regions of England for 1986, 1987 and the estimated expenditure for 1988, 1989 and 1990.
§ Mr. CopeA regional breakdown is not available on a consistent basis because so many schemes are national or cross regional boundaries. Figures for Great Britain for financial years published in the 1988 public expenditure White Paper are:
£ (million) Year 847 1986–87 1,006 (estimated outturn) 1987–88 1,179 (plans) 1988–89 1,189 (plans) 1989–90 1,156 (plans) 1990–91 Public expenditure revised figures will be published in the 1989 public expenditure White Paper.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what is the total number of authorised YTS places available which have been unoccupied for more than six months in Wales and each of the standard regions;
(2) what is the total number of approved YTS places currently available which have never been filled in Wales and each of the standard regions.
§ Mr. CopeI regret that this information is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will outline the methods being used to provide publicly available information on 16 and 17-year-olds who remain unemployed after the ending of the bridging allowance payments or extended child benefit.
§ Mr. CopeYoung people are not required to report what they are doing once bridging allowance payments or52W extended child benefit cease. Information on the expected supply and demand for YTS places the number of unfilled YTS places and the numbers of people receiving bridging allowance is publicly available from my Department.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) when the YTS guarantee will be met for every 16 and 17-year-old summer school leaver who did not enter full-time education or permanent employment for Scotland;
(2) when the YTS guarantee will be met for every 16 and 17-year-old summer school leaver who did not enter full-time education, or permanent employment, for Wales and each of the standard regions.
§ Mr. CopeThe payment of child benefit has been extended to the end of December in respect of young people who left school at the end of the 1988 summer term and who have applied for a YTS place. The Government have guaranteed the offer of a YTS place before the end of the child benefit extension period to all those 16 and 17-year-old who apply for one and who are not in full-time education or employment. This guarantee applies in all parts of Great Britain.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many 16 and 17-year-olds who previously received income support were transferred to bridging allowance after the new benefit rules were introduced in September for Wales and each of the standard regions.
§ Mr. CopeOn 4 October, the first date for which figures are available, the number of people in receipt of bridging allowance in Wales and each of the standard regions was:
People London and South East 4,411 South West 1,452 West Midlands 4,249 East Midlands 2,954 Yorkshire and Humberside 4,300 North West 6,876 Northern 2,861 Wales 2,323 Total 29,426 These figures relate to young people previously in income support who subsequently applied for a YTS place, and young people who have left a job or a YTS place since 12 September and have applied for a YTS place.