Mr. John D. TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of the students selected for the Training and Employment Agency sponsored programme in the United States of America are from Northern Ireland, broken down by religious denomination. [12771]
§ Mr. WorthingtonResponsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Training and Employment Agency under its chief executive, Mr. Ian Walters. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Ian Walters to Mr. John D. Taylor, dated 22 October 1997:
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has asked me, as Chief Executive of the Training & Employment Agency (T&EA), to reply to your question about the number of students from Northern Ireland, by religious denomination, who are on T&EA sponsored programmes in the United States of America (USA).The T&EA operates 4 USA programmes through its Business Support Division and 1 through its Training Division. The breakdown of these programmes, which are aimed at enhancing the skills and competences of young people, is as follows:
Number Business support division programmes Catholics 80 Protestants 51 Not stated 20 Total 151 Training division programmes Catholics 10 Protestants 14 Total 24 I hope you find this information helpful.