§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many employers have been contacted by the Employment Service in respect of the new deal for young unemployed people; how many 291W have agreed in principle to take part; how many have signed new deal contracts; and if he will give each figure broken down by size of employer. [26227]
§ Mr. Andrew SmithThe Employment Service and New Deal partners have made initial contact, including sending promotional material and setting meetings, with over 70,000 employers. The Large Organisations Unit has held meetings with 164 businesses. So far, some 7,000 firms have expressed interest in taking part in new deal and over 1,100 have signed Employer Agreements, with more to follow suit shortly. The disaggregation by size of employer is not yet available, but the majority of agreements are at local level, with small and medium businesses.
§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many(a) young people unemployed for more than six months and (b) people unemployed for more than two years he has assumed will participate in the New Deal in 1998–99, broken down by travel to work area or other suitable locality. [29688]
§ Mr. Andrew SmithEach New Deal programme will offer help to those who become eligible.
Our New Deal programmes are being delivered through local partnerships. For planning purposes, the Employment Service has provided its partners in each local unit of delivery with an indicative assumption for the numbers of young people who might join the New Deal for 18–24 year olds in 1998–99. Those planning assumptions are based on current unemployment levels. They are not forecasts of the actual numbers who will participate in the New Deal for 18–24 year olds. They do, however, enable the Employment Service and its partners in each local area to conduct better informed negotiations with organisations bidding to deliver New Deal programmes and services, and help to ensure that adequate resources are in place locally to meet potential demand.
I will shortly be placing in the Library a list showing the indicative planning assumption for the New Deal for 18–24 year olds in each unit of delivery. We have yet to finalise planning assumptions for participation in the New Deal for long-term unemployed people aged 25 or over.
§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if in-house company training schemes which do not lead directly to an NVQ will be accepted as the training element in the private employment option for 18 to 24 year olds and the long-term unemployed under the New Deal. [30493]
§ Mr. Andrew SmithEmployers may provide New Deal participants with in-house training in cases where it has been agreed with the Employment Service that the training is of a standard which meets the quality requirements of the New Deal. In these cases, the in-house training received by the New Deal participant will be mapped against NVQ frameworks for the appropriate occupational sector and, based on this, the young person would be registered for an NVQ.
§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what percentage of(a) young unemployed and (b) long-term unemployed participants in the New Deal are expected to have a criminal record. [30489]
292W
§ Mr. Andrew SmithEach New Deal programme is designed to offer help to all those who become eligible. The claimant unemployment statistics do not provide information on previous criminal records.
§ Shona McIsaacTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many young people have been assisted by the New Deal in the South Humber area. [29927]
§ Mr. Andrew SmithThe New Deal for young people in South Humber will begin on 6 April 1998. At this stage no young people in South Humber have entered the New Deal.