HC Deb 12 June 1989 vol 154 cc285-91W
Ms. Short

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what organisations have been granted ET training agent contracts; what were the planned volumes of trainees between September 1988 and March 1989; what are the planned volumes between April 1989 and

Table 1
Employment service referrals to training agents: September 1988 to March 1989
Employment service referrals to training agents
Employment service area office September 1988 October 1988 November 1988 December 1988 January 1989 February 1989 March 1989
London and South East Region
London North West 1,241 947 899 783 959 986 887
London East 615 820 921 789 897 826 908
Inner London Central 824 1,217 1,030 889 1,305 1,431 1,641
Essex 1,469 1,530 1,178 832 1,352 1,331 1,539
London North 931 1,111 972 808 1,085 1,085 986
Inner London East 669 923 1,013 841 1,033 1,024 1,160
Inner London West 1,299 1,080 1,243 983 1,350 1,513 1,441
London South East 591 725 534 329 503 629 573
London South 848 715 820 713 859 841 852
North and East Kent 1,604 1,187 1,104 905 1,247 1,146 1,169
London South West 813 631 568 394 519 582 656
Inner London West 1,049 817 727 672 1,022 1,123 827
London West 924 592 689 1,193 755 757 667
East Sussex and West Kent 940 974 876 698 875 784 832
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 1,925 1,686 1,583 1,184 1.842 1,566 1,579
West Sussex and Surrey 1,179 822 736 582 756 773 735
Hertfordshire 936 684 691 464 632 688 802
Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire 1,392 731 602 508 574 501 647
Berkshire and Oxfordshire 1,476 722 630 536 670 629 762
South West Region
Avon 817 897 883 718 1,165 976 948
Devon 808 632 633 532 715 614 710
Cornwall/Plymouth 1,425 1,266 1,332 1,028 1,366 1,355 1,513
Gloucestershire/Wiltshire 957 727 611 482 735 932 1,014
Somerset/Dorset 1,124 858 414 715 970 970 983
West Midlands Region
Birmingham and Solihulll 2,165 2,272 2,857 2,697 3,585 3,682 3,592
Coventry and Warwickshire 1,294 1,046 1,108 1,042 1,204 1,205 1,346
Hereford/Worcester 646 561 556 542 690 634 757
Wolverhampton/Walsall 1,622 1,465 1,264 1,121 1,392 1,346 1,551
Dudley and Sandwell 1,332 1,039 1,214 874 1,018 1,184 1,100
Shropshire 1,035 970 757 555 824 725 771
Staffordshire 2,253 1,299 1,355 1,328 1,799 1,604 1,621
East Midlands and Eastern Region
Northamptonshire/Cambridgeshire 950 945 928 705 983 1,010 811
Derbyshire 1,752 1,306 1,258 705 1,304 1,208 1,277
Leicestershire 834 879 1,011 739 769 899 815
Lincolnshire 875 807 426 524 695 595 621
Suffolk 696 467 499 370 504 462 499
Nottingham 1,571 1,485 1,403 1,042 1,574 1,606 1,754
Norfolk 855 798 753 557 825 830 821
Yorkshire and Humberside region
North Yorkshire 640 621 590 541 676 581 631
Wakefield 2,006 1,542 1,599 1,451 2,094 1,927 2,026
Bradford 1,365 1,163 1,216 999 1,226 1,247 1,301
North Humberside 1,183 1,266 1,196 907 1,282 1,063 1,305
South Humberside 1.689 1,777 1,563 1,355 1,982 1,704 2,013
Leeds 1,214 911 915 950 1,174 1,076 1,392
Sheffield 2,023 1,800 1,861 1,349 1,680 1,324 1,312

August 1989; how many trainees have been referred to ET training agents; and how many action plans had been agreed at the end of each month since September 1988, for each Training Agency area.

Mr. Nicholls

The names and addresses of training agents are in the employment training directory of training agents and training managers, a copy of which is held in the House of Commons Library. Information on the profiles of training agent volumes is for internal management information purposes only. The numbers of employment service referrals to training agents are only available for the 77 employment service areas and are given in table 1. The number of action plans agreed at training agents are given for the 57 Training Agency areas in table 2.

Employment service referrals to training agents
Employment service area office September 1988 October 1988 November 1988 December 1988 January 1989 February 1989 March 1989
North West region
Cheshire 1,664 1,177 1,079 844 1,080 1,009 1,063
Lancashire North 1,126 1,122 983 764 1,230 1,018 1,104
Lancashire South 1,042 875 815 776 1,122 1,154 1,145
Manchester West 709 628 526 475 733 762 1,067
Manchester South 1,007 824 832 648 831 829 985
Manchester City 1,242 1,040 936 858 1,197 1,142 1,485
Manchester North West 750 847 911 664 1,100 1,038 1,229
Manchester North West 1,068 873 928 765 1,030 929 1,092
Cumbria 836 554 496 418 755 566 609
Merseyside North 888 891 1,068 847 1,524 1,346 1,349
Merseyside South 1,297 1,365 1,386 1,160 1,551 1,791 2,201
Liverpool Central/Wirral 1,103 1,206 1,172 931 1,527 1,311 1,345
Northern region
Northumberland 1,443 898 853 672 1,022 1,074 1,019
South Tyne and Wear 2,970 1,643 1,556 1,366 1,990 2,042 1,950
Cleveland 3,497 2,391 1,585 1,379 2,142 1,657 1,676
Newcastle and Gateshead 2,464 1,364 1,267 1,094 1,406 1,295 1,395
County Durham 2,079 1,394 1,173 1,150 1,689 1,721 1,722
Wales
Gwent 597 720 848 758 1,114 1,182 1,154
Gwynedd 547 362 390 331 393 305 358
West Glamorgan/Dyfed 1,043 1,520 1,607 1,512 1,654 1,686 1,711
Mid Glamorgan 1,186 1,242 1,136 837 1,294 1,281 1,366
South Glamorgan 1,090 875 943 944 1,060 1,169 1,099
Clwyd/Powys 762 664 773 710 629 607 668
Scotland
Glasgow North 1,300 1,614 1,763 1,578 2,055 2,512 2,862
Glasgow South 878 1,103 1,122 911 1,503 1,513 1,712
Lanarkshire 1,262 1,098 1,160 1,150 1,371 1,421 2,089
Highlands and Islands 960 639 714 640 703 670 633
Renfrew, Dumbarton and Argyll 1,500 1,628 1,542 1,432 1,734 2,101 2,254
Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway 1,128 1,294 1,320 1,141 1,388 1,300 1,287
Lothian and Borders 1,883 1,773 1,866 1,213 1,247 1,513 1,769
Tayside and Grampian 1,997 1,602 1,467 1,259 1,415 1,513 1,771
Central and Fife 1,351 927 1,172 1,148 1,651 1,432 1,449

Table 2
Action plans completed by ET training agents: September 1988 to March 1989
Area office Agreed action plans
September 1988 October 1988 November 1988 December 1988 January 1989 February 1989 March 1989
South East Region
Berkshire and Oxfordshire 242 798 0 922 514 450 418
Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire 219 294 763 411 429 520 500
Essex 227 550 525 1,051 632 748 989
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 411 487 679 409 717 670 772
Kent 32 610 1,159 488 714 652 596
Surrey 102 223 174 615 190 0 196
Sussex 0 682 900 470 555 652 695
London Region
Inner London North 505 1,196 1,545 1,606 1,651 1,799 2,090
Inner London South 510 655 616 539 645 718 736
London East 793 735 805 670 972 1,117 1,092
London North 732 857 935 846 858 970 996
London South 280 320 479 340 423 542 543
London West 591 867 811 676 900 912 952
South West Region
Avon 238 361 411 327 453 506 489
Devon and Cornwall 665 692 1,244 795 1,294 615 1,192
Dorset and Somerset 418 478 386 332 342 516 471
Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 357 546 560 433 390 479 536
West Midlands Region
Birmingham and Solihull 935 1,026 1,201 756 1,553 1,685 1,382
Coventry and Warwickshire 378 617 576 322 638 812 748
Dudley and Sandwell 818 769 899 1,021 978 1,059 1,416
Staffordshire 541 906 434 1,145 1,128 929 1,192

Area office Agreed action plans
September 1988 October 1988 November 1988 December 1988 January 1989 February 1989 March 1989
The Marches, Hereford/Worcester 0 710 677 954 406 613 1,330
Wolverhampton and Walsall 0 1,055 1,913 308 706 821 754
East Midlands and Eastern Region
Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire 502 484 520 331 400 426 362
Derbyshire 704 742 743 501 582 677 743
Leicestershire and Northamptonshire 499 607 604 551 718 719 736
Lincolnshire 192 251 267 154 296 359 313
Norfolk and Suffolk 586 625 652 426 753 641 961
Nottinghamshire 602 909 853 669 937 923 851
Yorkshire and Humberside Region
Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees 758 944 1,439 911 1,123 1,186 1,316
Humberside 858 821 791 847 949 970 938
North Yorkshire and Leeds 621 826 752 743 777 1,035 1,002
Sheffield and Rotherham 1,078 1,387 1,382 961 1,459 1,236 1,043
Wakefield, Doncaster and Barnsley 861 1,154 1,296 990 1,501 1,547 1,265
North West Region
Cheshire 809 826 901 588 773 951 699
Cumbria 267 280 406 269 315 377 373
Lancashire 937 1,050 955 943 1,090 1,164 1,279
Central Manchester 597 685 945 936 954 984 837
Greater Manchester North 395 699 711 423 821 834 894
Greater Manchester East 484 904 784 488 604 875 913
Merseyside 630 1,386 1,715 1,504 1,995 2,315 2,220
Northern Region
Cleveland 1,404 2,633 3,774 4,573 6,197 7,961 9,464
County Durham 1,027 1,921 2,818 3,439 4,453 5,707 6,767
Northumberland, North Tyneside and Newcastle 602 1,564 2,668 3,517 5,861 7,136 13,114
Sunderland, South Tyneside and Gateshead 1,356 2,779 4,170 5,753 6,829 8,474 10.080
Wales
Dyfed and West Glamorgan 524 759 922 749 909 930 949
Gwent 268 348 536 282 747 779 681
Gwynned, Clwyd and Powys 309 458 545 546 573 679 497
Mid Glamorgan and South Glamorgan 826 935 1,073 856 951 1,302 1,301
Scotland
Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway 550 706 895 832 802 1,003 826
Central and Fife 429 459 710 603 594 832 573
Glasgow City 828 958 1,263 1,160 1,198 1,463 1,915
Grampian and Tayside 937 817 825 726 918 1,018 1,267
Highlands and Islands 158 207 301 351 397 400 308
Lanarkshire 301 649 710 480 639 800 803
Lothian and Borders 604 766 1,269 757 805 824 940
Renfrew, Dumbarton and Argyll 339 397 607 576 770 1,000 1,122

Note: Some months show no agreed action plans because of computer difficulties. Action plans agreed in these months are recorded in subsequent months.

Mr. Loyden

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will produce figures showing the duration of stay for participants on employment training on(a) a national and (b) a Merseyside basis.

Mr. Nicholls

Information about duration of stay of employment training participants is not yet available.

Mr. Loyden

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if there have been any cases where an unemployed claimant has had his benefits or credits stopped for refusing the offer of a place on employment training or for leaving the scheme before completion.

Mr. Lee

I am aware of only one case where an unemployed person had credits withheld because of a refusal to accept employment training. This decision was the result of an administrative error and I am satisfied that the case has now been rectified.

Because employment training is voluntary it is not training approved by the Secretary of State for the purposes of the Social Security Act. The right to unemployment benefit and credits is not, therefore, affected by a refusal of employment training or leaving an employment training course early.

Mr. Clelland

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what were the target numbers of employment training places in September 1988 for the south Tyne and north Tyne areas, for the first year of operation of the employment training scheme.

Mr. Nicholls

Profiles nationally and for area offices for the numbers of filled employment training places are for internal management purposes only.

Mr. Roy Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will consider providing gardening assistance for elderly and infirm people under employment training.

Mr. Nicholls

Employment training is a training programme designed to meet the needs of individual trainees and to help them get jobs when they finish their training. Gardening training is available where there is a local demand from employers for people with gardening skills and a demand from trainees for this sort of training. In these circumstances, employment training trainees very often provide considerable gardening assistance to elderly and infirm people.

Mr. Meacher

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the 50 largest companies participating in the employment training programme, in each case stating the number of places they contracted for, the number of places so far filled, the latter as a percentage of the former and the level of expenditure so far on employment training advertising by each of these companies.

Large companies with Training Managers contracts through ET large contractors unit
Contracted places Places filled at 28 April 1989 Places filled as a percentage of contracted places
Amarc 1,380 879 64
Comet 354 35 10
Dixons 229 6 3
Habitat 200 0 0
Heron Service Stations 81 1 1
J. Jarvis and Sons Ltd. 2,468 971 39
Kalamazoo 200 89 45
John Laing Construction 2,208 1,045 47
Lloyds British Training Services 2,595 1,950 75
Remploy 456 0 0
Mothercare 50 0 0
Mowlem 405 103 25
Wimpey 472 189 40

It should be noted that several of these companies have only recently signed employment training, training managing contracts and therefore their occupancy figures have not yet built up.