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Closed Shop
Mr. Skinner : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what discussions he has had with the Trades Union Congress regarding the closed shop ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Nicholls : My right hon. Friend regularly meets representatives of the Trades Union Congress to discuss a wide range of employment issues. He has not, however, been involved in any recent meetings with them to discuss the closed shop.
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what further proposals he has to outlaw the closed shop.
Mr. Nicholls : The Employment Bill published on 21 December 1989 makes it unlawful to refuse to employ a person because he is or is not a trade union member and provides that any person refused employment for such a reason may complain to an industrial tribunal. This measure, together with the protections afforded by the Employment Act 1988, will make all forms of the closed shop unenforceable in law.
Skilled Workers (Holidays)
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what information he has as to the average number of days' holiday per year for skilled workers in (a) France, (b) West Germany, (c) Italy and (d) the United Kingdom.
Mr. Nicholls : No reliable information is available.
Weekly Pay Limit
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what estimate he has made of the effect on the unemployment total of the introduction of the £43 limit on weekly pay introduced on 10 December.
Mr. Nicholls : The estimated effect on the unemployment total is negligible.
Training and Enterprise Councils
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what consideration he has given to ensuring that disabled people will not be disadvantaged in qualifying for bonus or performance-related funds in the plans for training and enterprise councils.
Mr. Eggar : There will be a system of performance-related funding for training and enterprise councils (TECs). This is designed to give an incentive for good performance by TECs in achieving objectives. The needs of people with disabilities will be recognised when objectives for TECs are agreed.
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Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what resources he has set aside to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged by the establishment of training and enterprise councils.
Mr. Eggar : Training and enterprise councils (TECs) will be expected to meet the needs of people with disabilities from within their agreed budgets. Each TEC will set out how it intends to provide for the needs of people with disabilities in its business plan. This will form the basis of its contract with my Department.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will make arrangements to ensure that training and enterprise councils seek expert support from appropriate agencies when dealing with disabled trainees.
Mr. Eggar : Training and enterprise councils (TECs) will be expected to consult and work with appropriate agencies which have the expertise necessary to meet the special needs of people with disabilities.
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether funding proposals for training and enterprise councils will take into consideration the additional administrative costs likely to be incurred by voluntary sector organisations in negotiating with more than one training and enterprise council.
Mr. Nicholls : A central administrative unit has been established within my Department to facilitate negotiations and administrative arrangements between training and enterprise councils and national training providers. Voluntary sector organisations are, of course, welcome to use this facility.
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he has any plans to empower local training and enterprise councils to cash-limit their provision.
Mr. Nicholls : The TECs will operate under a contract with my Department which sets out targets and other outputs to be achieved together with an agreed budget. It will be for individual TECs to decide how they will negotiate provision with training providers.
Youth Training
Ms. Short : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many young people in each separate ethnic group finished their training before the end of their scheme in (a) Greater London, (b) Manchester, (c) Birmingham and Solihull and (d) Coventry and Warwickshire.
Mr. Nicholls : The table shows the number and percentages of YTS leavers in each ethnic group who left YTS before the end of their YTS training entitlement :
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|White |Black/Afro |Indian Sub-|Other |Prefer not
|Caribbean |continent |to say
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greater London
Numbers |16,912 |4,314 |1,685 |729 |753
Percentage |67 |78 |76 |74 |66
Manchester
Numbers |27,018 |537 |547 |181 |158
Percentage |73 |81 |80 |77 |73
Birmingham and Solihull
Numbers |11,165 |1,266 |1,572 |240 |116
Percentage |74 |79 |82 |82 |73
Coventry and Warwickshire
Numbers |7,327 |141 |413 |40 |30
Percentage |67 |71 |69 |67 |50
Training Schemes
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what action is taken by his Department to ensure that an objective assessment of a quango-supported Government training scheme is provided by a Government advisory service.
Mr. Nicholls : The training standards advisory service, set up in September 1986, carries out detailed scrutiny of the design, management, delivery and outcomes of training in YT and ET on behalf of the Training Agency. From 1 September 1989 the service has been reorganised on a regional basis to reflect the greater emphasis on local autonomy under the TEC arrangements.
Minimum Wages
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how he intends to enforce minimum wage protection in Wales.
Mr. Nicholls : The level of compliance with wages orders in Wales is, as in the rest of Great Britain, very high. My right hon. Friend is satisfied that the present policy of
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targeting the resources of the wages inspectorate towards those employers most likely to underpay is the most effective way of enforcing minimum wage legislation.Employment Training
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment his Department has made of the additional administrative costs incurred by the voluntary sector under the special training provision of employment training.
Mr. Nicholls : The funding rules for special training provision provide for the additional administrative costs incurred in arranging an individualised training programme to be met by the Training Agency.
Earnings
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will set out the real earnings figures for 1970, 1979 and 1989 from which each of the percentage increases was calulated in his answer to the hon. Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell), of 13 December 1989, Official Report, columns 658-59.
Mr. Nicholls [holding answer 8 January 1990] : The information is provided in the table :
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Gross weekly earnings in real terms
Manufacturing Non-manufacturing
|1970 |1979 |1989 |1970 |1979 |1989
-------------------------------------------------------------
Manual males
Lowest decile |115.3|136.8|141.0|98.0 |115.7|122.4
Lower quartile |139.1|162.8|174.6|117.8|138.2|152.0
Median |169.0|194.7|217.9|146.4|171.5|193.1
Higher quartile |203.4|233.1|269.6|180.5|214.5|245.8
Highest decile |240.5|278.8|333.3|220.7|267.2|309.6
Average earnings |174.6|203.0|230.6|154.4|183.8|207.5
Non-manual males
Lowest decile |126.5|148.3|179.0|110.7|127.4|151.0
Lower quartile |158.0|181.1|226.2|141.2|162.6|205.9
Median |198.1|221.7|289.5|189.6|212.7|282.9
Higher quartile |250.0|279.8|384.5|255.0|273.8|377.4
Highest decile |337.0|360.0|515.4|340.0|349.2|517.4
Average earnings |224.3|243.4|331.5|216.6|230.9|321.1
Manual females
Lowest decile |60.9 |85.0 |90.7 |50.8 |74.6 |82.8
Lower quartile |71.5 |99.6 |106.4|59.4 |86.7 |98.4
Median |83.9 |118.7|129.7|72.1 |104.0|121.4
Higher quartile |98.8 |139.6|159.0|89.7 |126.1|153.4
Highest decile |115.8|161.4|197.7|114.8|151.2|193.9
Average earnings |86.9 |121.6|138.2|78.3 |109.4|131.4
Non-manual females
Lowest decile |66.6 |94.2 |110.3|63.5 |89.6 |108.1
Lower quartile |77.9 |108.0|132.2|78.5 |105.2|133.8
Median |91.1 |126.2|162.3|103.8|130.1|176.0
Higher quartile |109.9|148.2|206.0|135.4|166.5|242.3
Highest decile |135.2|178.2|269.8|182.4|209.3|304.7
Average earnings |98.8 |132.9|182.8|114.8|141.2|196.7
Notes:
1. Full-time adult employees in Great Britain.
2. Figures as at April of each year, revalued to April 1989
prices.
3. Source: New Earnings Survey.
Job Interview Guarantee Scheme
Mr. Loyden : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many agreements have been made with employers to operate the job interview guarantee scheme in each of the 20 pilot areas ; how many unemployed people have taken part in the scheme in each area ; and how many secured full-time employment with their sponsoring employer.
Mr. Eggar [holding answer 8 January 1990] : The latest available information is as follows :
Pilot Area |Number of |<1>Number of|<2>Number Employer |Unemployed |Found Agreements |People |Employment ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Manchester |15 |29 |10 Salford |11 |56 |12 Liverpool |20 |66 |11 Lower Don Valley |39 |100 |47 Leeds |28 |28 |28 Birmingham |8 |67 |18 Wolverhampton |8 |69 |27 Glasgow |39 |25 |11 Dundee |- |- |- Sunderland |5 |14 |2 Newcastle |- |- |- Nottingham |6 |93 |47 Leicester |25 |28 |2 Cardiff |90 |99 |73 Merthyr Tydfil |40 |66 |29 Bristol (South) |26 |104 |37 Plymouth |14 |126 |61 Southwark/ Lewisham |45 |101 |56 Spitalfields |3 |6 |- London (Docklands) |4 |11 |2 <1>Figures in this column represent the number of submissions to Job Interview Guarantee opportunities. <2>It is not possible to distinguish full-time employment from part-time.
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