§ Mr. WallaceTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many investigations have been made by his officials into the activities of the Paisley job club; and what were the results.
§ Mr. EggarEmployment service officials visit Paisley job club at six-monthly intervals as part of the standard monitoring procedure. The last such visit took place on 9 January 1990. In addition, a further meeting took place on 22 February 1990 between employment service officials and the company which is contracted to run the job club on its behalf. This meeting followed allegations made by a journalist working for theGlasgow Evening Times.
The employment service believes that the Paisley job club is, in general, being run in accordance with its requirements. It is accepted that some irregularities in record-keeping have occurred, but these have had no effect on unemployment statistics and have not resulted in any additional payments being made to the contractor. The job club records are being amended to correct the errors which have been found. I believe that the Paisley job club, like the programmes generally, provides valuable help to long-term unemployed people, and others at a disadvantage in the labour market, in their search for work.