HC Deb 19 June 1991 vol 193 cc239-43W
Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many people over 25 years and under 50 years were unemployed and not on the employment training scheme in 1989–90 and 1990–91; and what is his latest estimate of the number of people over 25 and under 50 years who are currently unemployed and not on the employment training schemes or other training schemes being operated through the training and enterprise council and local enterprise company network;

(2) how many under-25s were unemployed and not on the employment training scheme in 1989–90 and 1990–91; and what is his latest estimate of the number of under-25s currently unemployed and not on the employment training schemes or other training schemes being operated through the TEC and LEC network.

Mr. Jackson

The information requested can be obtained from the NOMIS database in the House of Commons Library. Those on job-related Government schemes are included in the employment estimates and are, therefore, not counted in the unemployment figures.

Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the funding block 3 budget allocation to all training and enterprise councils in England and Wales and to all local enterprise companies in Scotland for 1991–92.

Mr. Jackson

Funding block 3 budgets for 1991–92 for each of the 75 operational TECs in England and Wales are set out in the table.

Responsibility for answering that part of the question which relates to the Scottish local enterprise companies lies with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland.

£ million
Funding block 3 £ million
South East
Essex 3.320
Hampshire 2.667
Heart of England 1.200
Hertfordshire 2.385
Isle of Wight .515
Kent 3.150
Milton Keynes and North Buckinghamshire .711
Surrey 1.679
Sussex 3.380
Thames Valley Enterprise 1.870
London
AZTEC 1.430
LETEC 2.70
SOLOTEC 1.940
STTEC 2.793
South West
Avon 3.491
Devon and Cornwall 6.070
Dorset 3.921
Gloucester 1.600
Somerset 1.530
Wiltshire 1.540
West Midlands
Birmingham 4 110
Central England 1.360
Coventry 2.590
Dudley 1.006
Hereford and Worcester 1.167
Sandwell 1.013
Shropshire 1.492
Staffordshire 2.900
Walsall .890
Wolverhampton 1.028
East Midlands and Anglia
Leicester 2.853
Northamptonshire 1.522
Lincolnshire 1.878
Greater Nottingham 2.078
North Nottinghamshire 1.456
South Derbyshire 1.908
North Derbyshire 1.154
Norfolk/Waverney 2.163
Suffolk 1.315
Bedfordshire .985
GP TEC .601
CAMBSTEC .709
Yorkshire and Humberside
Leeds 2.273
North Yorkshire 2.048
Bradford 1.670
Calderdale and Kirklees 2.056
Wakefield 1.054
Barnsley and Doncaster 2.165
Sheffield 2.492
Rotherham .985

Funding block 3 . million
Humberside 3.168
North West
Bolton/Bury 1.665
CEWTEC 2.443
Cumbria 1.596
ELTEC 1.759
LAWTEC 2.764
Manchester 4.506
METROTEC 1.043
Oldham .795
QUALITEC .608
Rochdale .775
South and East Cheshire 1.088
Stockport HP 1.520
Northern
Teesside 2.521
Tyneside 3.820
Wearside 1.413
Durham 2.716
Northumberland 1.475
Wales
Gwent 1.655
North East Wales 1.384
North West Wales 1.631
Mid Glamorgan 1.719
Powys .590
South Glamorgan 1.461
West Wales 3.490

Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many persons aged 16 years were in receipt of the £29.50 a week training allowance in 1989–90 and 1990–91; and how many are currently in receipt of this level of training allowance;

(2) how many persons aged 17 years were in receipt of the £35 a week training allowance in 1989–90 and 1990–91; and how many are currently in receipt of this level of training allowance;

(3) how much was spent in training allowances for persons aged 16 and 17 years, respectively, in 1989–90 and 1990–91; and how much money has been allocated to the training and enterprise councils and local enterprise companies, for training allowances for persons aged 16 and 17 years respectively, in 1991–92.

Mr. Jackson

Information on numbers of 16 and 17-year-old youth training—YT—trainees who receive minimum allowances of £29.50 and £35 per week respectively is not available. The Exchequer contribution towards trainee allowances cannot be separately identified because employers also contribute and a proportion of trainees are employed and receive wages. Expenditure on YT, including minimum allowances in allocations to training and enterprise councils and local enterprise companies in 1991–92, will be some £844 million.

Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the total budget in 1988–89 and 1989–90 for those programmes which are now the responsibility of training and enterprise councils and local enterprise companies and are funded by the funding block 3 budget allocations.

Mr. Jackson

Expenditure in 1988–89 and 1989–90 on programmes which are broadly comparable to those now operated by training and enterprise councils and local enterprise companies with block 3 funding, was as follows:

£ million
1988–89 250
1989–90 209

Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment which of the programmes his Department ran directly before the establishment of the training and enterprise councils in England and Wales and the local enterprise companies in Scotland, are now run by training and enterprise councils and local enterprise companies and funded by the funding block 3 budget allocations.

Mr. Jackson

Block 3 broadly corresponds to business growth training and the enterprise allowance scheme which were previously run by my Department's area offices. Training and enterprise councils and local enterprise companies have however been given a flexible remit to undertake business and enterprise activities in their area using this funding block.

Mr. Ray Powell

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what measures he has taken to encourage businesses to provide training opportunities for employees aged 16 to 19 years in 1991; and what measures he is currently undertaking in that direction.

Mr. Jackson

The Government have put in place a wide range of measures to encourage businesses to train their 16 to 19-year-old employees. Youth training encourages employers to offer high quality training. Training credits are being offered on a pilot basis to further encourage young people moving into employment to train. The Government are supporting compacts in urban programme areas and similar areas in Scotland and Wales, under which local employers guarantee young people a job with training, or training leading to a job, in return for their working towards agreed goals. A new standard— investors in people—is being introduced to promote employer commitment to developing their employees, including young people.

Building on these measures, the comprehensive proposals in the recent White Paper "Education and Training for the 21st Century" are designed to further increase training opportunities for young people, particularly through the nationwide extension of training credits, the expansion of the compacts approach, and improvements to the qualifications system.

Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many people aged over 25 years and under 50 years were on the employment training scheme in 1989–90 and 1990–91; and what is his latest estimate for the numbers of people aged over 25 years and under 50 years currently enrolled in the employment training schemes through the TEC and LEC network;

(2) how many under-25s were on the employment training scheme in 1989–90 and 1990–91; and what is his latest estimate for the numbers of under-25s currently enrolled on the employment training schemes through the TEC and LEC network.

Mr. Jackson

Information about entrants to employment training in the age groups requested for 1989–90 and the latest available for 1990–91 is given in table 1. Information for those TECs operational during the period April-November 1990, the latest dates for which information is available, is given in table 2.

Table 1
Employment training Entrants by age group 1989–90 and April-November 1990
Great Britain
Age group 1989– Per cent April-November 1990 Per cent
18–24 36 35
25–50 58 60
51 and over 6 5

Table 2
Employment training Entrants by age group April-November 1990
TECs
Age group April-November 1990 Per cent
18–24 36
25–50 58
51 and over 5

Source: ET Management Information System and ET starts database.