§ Mr. LeightonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is to be the face value of the credits he announced for the pilots in youth training; and in which geographical areas the pilots will take place.
§ Mr. EggarOn 27 March, I published a prospectus inviting training and enterprise councils to bid to run pilot schemes of training credits for young people. It will be for the councils in their bids to propose the face value of credits in their area. At this stage, however, I think it is unlikely that any credit would carry a value of less than £1,000.
I will be looking for a geographical spread of pilots throughout Great Britain. The actual range will depend on the quality of bids received.
§ Mr. O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he has any plans to increase the level of expenditure on youth training.
584WUntil 1987, wages inspection in Wales was administered from a divisional office in Cardiff and the table shows the number of staff based there.
The Cardiff office closed in that year as part of a nationwide rationalisation of inspectorate offices. Responsibility for wages inspection in Wales transferred to Manchester and Bristol, but it is not administered separately from the other areas covered by those offices. The figures for 1987 to 1989 are, therefore, the totals employed at Manchester and Bristol in those years.
§ Mr. NichollsPlanned expenditure on YTS is set out in the Public Expenditure White Paper, a copy of which can be found in the House of Commons Library.
In addition, my right hon. and learned Friend announced in a statement in the House on 27 March increases in expenditure for training and enterprise councils in England and Wales and local enterprise companies in Scotland to run pilot training credit schemes from April 1991 (Official Report, column 211).