HC Deb 20 July 1989 vol 157 cc325-8W
Mr. McLeish

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many disabled people are known to be seeking work with Remploy but are unable to get jobs.

Mr. Lee

Information about the number of severely disabled people seeking work with Remploy is not held. The company has been recruiting and training between 1,000 and 1,200 disabled people a year.

Mr. Lee

I regret that this information is not available in the form requested but the numbers of people with disabilities registered for work at jobcentres on 8 March 1985, 4 April 1986 and 3 April 1987 were as follows:

Mr. McLeish

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many disabled workers are employed by Remploy; in which areas they are located; and what is their average weekly wage.

Mr. Lee

On 31 May 1989 Remploy employed 8,706 severely disabled workers. The following table gives a breakdown into employment service regions:

Region Number of severely disabled workers at 31 May 1989
London and South East 945
South West 523
West Midlands 624
East Midlands and Eastern 642
Yorkshire and Humberside 1,012
North West 1,610
Northern 885
Wales 1,442
Scotland 1,023

Region Number of severely disabled workers at 31 May 1989
Total 8,706

The basic weekly wage is £109.72 for disabled manual workers in London and £96.54 elsewhere. With skill and productivity payments, average weekly earnings are £129.15 in London and £115.97 elsewhere.

Mr. McLeish

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people are in management jobs in Remploy; and how many of those are disabled.

Mr. Lee

Comprehensive information is not available, but four of Remploy's factory managers are disabled. It is the company's policy to provide opportunities for people with disabilities to fill jobs at all levels, and, through its development training programme for shop floor workers, to equip more disabled people for opportunities for promotion.

Financial year 1985–86 Financial year 1986–87 Financial year 1987–88 Financial year 1988–89
Places occupied at 31 March 1986 Approved ceiling at 31 March 1987 Places occupied at 31 March 1987 Approved ceiling at 31 March 1988 Places occupied at 31 March 1988 Approved ceiling at 31 March 1989 Places occupied at 31 March 1989
South East 448 491 476 669 650 21,529 21,263
London 124 226 168 319 259
South West 311 422 376 490 472 646 616
West Midlands 1306 338 328 491 450 650 586
East Midlands and Eastern 363 359 522 479 621 590
Yorkshire and Humberside 134 227 209 322 306 465 408
North West 219 344 300 423 376 540 482
Northern 58 93 72 120 99 226 183
Wales 88 178 149 239 240 327 312
Scotland 146 281 247 379 389 570 516
1 The figure of 306 occupied places relates to the whole of the former Midlands region.
2 The figures of 1,529 and 1,263 relate to the now combined London and South East region.

Mr. McLeish

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the expenditure on the sheltered placement scheme in each of the years 1985–86 to 1988–89 inclusive; and what is the estimated expenditure in each of the years 1989–90, 1990–91 and 1991–92 for each of the standard regions, Scotland and Wales.

Mr. Lee

The information is not available in the form requested. The following table gives details of the

£000
Region 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 Forecast
South East 222 497 1,400 2,698
London 284 409 558
South West 1,457 2,545 1,017 1,316
West Midlands 123 264 969 1,251
East Midlands and Eastern 382 510 1,031 1,260
Yorkshire and Humberside 249 473 659 871
North West 368 504 810 1,029
Northern 79 99 213 390
Wales 18 58 517 667
Scotland 401 705 838 1,102
Great Britain 3,583 6,064 8,012 10,584

Mr. McLeish

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number of places on the

Mr. McLeish

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people are in supervisory jobs in Remploy; and how many of them are disabled.

Mr. Lee

Comprehensive information is not available, but 306 (46 per cent.) of the 659 supervisory staff in Remploy factories are severely disabled.