§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many responses were received to the consultative document on the sheltered employment funding system; how many were(a) totally in favour and (b) totally against; and how many gave specific reservations;
(2) how many fully funded places in sheltered workshops have been available in each of the past five years; and what are the expected figures for the next two years;
(3) what has been the level of training grants allocated to sheltered workshops in each of the past five years; and what is the expected level for each of the next two years.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mrs. Margaret Ewing, dated 25 January 1994:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions about the responses received to the consultative document on the Sheltered Employment funding system, and the number of places available in and the level of training grants allocated to sheltered workshops.A number of changes to the current way in which we fund Sheltered Employment were proposed in a recent consultative document. The consultation on these proposals ended on 13 September 1993 and responses are still being considered. The 115 responses received were generally supportive, but none were totally in favour or totally against our proposals—we would not have expected this to be otherwise as the consultation process was intended to elicit comments. Implementation of changes will not take place, however, until we are satisfied that the interests of severely disabled people will be best served.The number of places we supported in local authority and voluntary body sheltered workshops over the last five years is:
Number 1989 5,520 1990 5,476 1991 5,209 1992 5,060 1993 4,838 Figures are for those supported on 31 March in each year and cover approved workers and trainees. Future plans are based on our supporting 4,900 workshop places in 1994–95 and 1995–96.
Sheltered workshops are only one part of the Sheltered Employment Programme; this also includes help to people with disabilities through the Sheltered Placement Scheme (SPS) and Remploy. Whilst the number of people supported in sheltered workshops has declined over the period, the overall number of people helped through the Programme has been maintained. The figures below illustrate this:
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Number 1989 19,276 1990 20,650 1991 20,777 1992 20,722 1993 20,386 Future plans are to help at least 20,800 people through the Programme in 1994–95 and 1995–96.
Training grants paid to sheltered workshops comprise payment of an employee's basic workshop wage for an agreed period plus a contribution towards the cost of fees for externally purchased training. Employees' wages vary from workshop to workshop and year to year. There is, therefore, no standard grant payable for this item. Payment of training fees is based on reimbursement of actual costs subject to a maximum of £1,400 per person per annum (£27.88 per person per week). This has remained unchanged over the last five years. The abolition of payments for training wages and fees from 1 April 1994 is one of the items being considered in the review of Sheltered Employment funding. A very small number of workshops claimed assistance for wages and fees and it has been proposed that the money set aside for this should be added to the overall money available to local authorities and voluntary bodies for helping all individuals assisted through the Programme.
I hope this is helpful.