§ Mr. WilsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many YTS places are available; and how many applicants for YTS places there are, in each area of the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. CopeRegional figures for the number of agreed places which were unfilled on 30 September, the latest date for which information is available, are provided in the table:
Number London 11,300 South East 16,800 South West 10,900 West Midlands 19,900 East Midlands and Eastern 13,600 Yorkshire and Humberside 8,200 North West 13,900 Northern 6,700 Wales 3,500 Scotland 12,000 Great Britain 116,800 Northern Ireland has a separate programme for youth training.
Comparable figures for the number of applicants are not available. Each local careers office will have its own records of the number of those who have at any one time applied to them for a YTS place. This information could not be at aggregated regional or national level except at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many 16 and 17-year-olds are eligible for the YTS but have not been placed at the most recent date for which the information was available.
§ Mr. Cope[holding answer 7 November 1988]: All 16 and 17-year-olds not in full-time education are eligible to apply for YTS, but many do not do so. It is not possible to estimate how many of this summer's school leavers are seeking a place. On 2 November there were 31,882 young people who had applied for a YTS place and were receiving bridging allowance.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will provide an estimate of the total number of 16 and 17-year-olds who will not have received an offer of a YTS place on the termination of the bridging allowance on 5 November in Wales and each of the standard regions.
§ Mr. Cope[holding answer, 7 November 1988]: It is the responsibility of the local authority careers service to ensure that a young person who has applied to it for a YTS place, and made himself or herself available, to discuss possible places, is put in contact with managing agents to ensure they are offered a start on a YTS scheme before the end of the guarantee period. The Training Agency has made more than sufficient places available in all areas of the country to meet the potential take up. Local careers offices do not always know if a young person takes a job but they may be able to estimate how many young people were not offered a place because, for example, they did not come into the office for an interview, but I am not aware of any national estimate—which in any case would be difficult to make on a consistent basis across the country.