§ Mr. RowlandsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the number of people taken on under the New Deal by the trade unions. [64748]
§ Mr. Andrew SmithCentral records are not kept of the 52,800 young people who have found work under New Deal and the 35,400 employer agreements that have been signed. This information is not held centrally; however, we have worked closely with the TUC over the implementation of New Deal and are grateful for their support and we do know that a number of individual Trade Unions have taken on young people under the New Deal.