§ Mr. HealdTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what level of support will be available to Great Britain from the European social fund under objectives 3 and 4 from 1994 to 1999.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythThe Government welcome last Wednesday's announcement by the European Commission that Great Britain will receive approximately £2,500 million between 1994 and 1999 from the European social fund for expenditure under objectives 3 and 4 of the European Community's structural funds, outside objective 1 regions.
Objective 3 is targeted at helping young people who are joining the labour market, long-term unemployed people and other people facing particular disadvantages in finding and keeping work. The Government value the important contribution made over the years by the ESF to helping young and unemployed people in Britain prepare or compete effectively for jobs.
In the course of the negotiations on the reform of the structural funds last year, it was agreed that member states should be free to decide the balance of objective 3 and 4 in their respective countries. Objective 4 is targeted at workers still in employment. The Government's consistent view has been that the ESF should continue to concentrate first and foremost on helping unemployed people.
The Government plan therefore to devote the available ESF resources for objectives 3 and 4 to helping unemployed people under objective 3 for the foreseeable future.