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under TOPs. Although adjustments are being made, they are from a much higher base than the Labour party achieved in government. More than 350,000 women have been trained since the launch of ET in September 1988, and a higher proportion of new trainees are women than when it began.Ms. Walley : Many issues have been raised, but the Minister is overlooking my point about the importance of ensuring that women are able to participate in projects that enable them to get back to work. In 1989, Mrs. Kay Jackson, who was married with three children, was offered a place on employment training but was unable to take it because her allowance and her husband's salary would not have covered the costs of child care. The Government changed the Employment Protection Act 1975, and a case of discrimination that was upheld was subsequently reversed because of that change. That leads me to think that their commitment to equal opportunities is not as
straightforward as the Minister suggests.
Mr. Jackson : The hon. Lady knows that there is a time limit on the debate and that responding to her intervention will make it more difficult for me to respond to her speech. I was about to deal with the role of the training and enterprise councils and their flexibility in, for example, payment of child care allowances. One of the most important developments in training has been the creation of the training and enterprise councils. I am glad that the hon. Lady mentioned them favourably and that there is co- operation between Staffordshire county council and the TEC to which she referred. We have given TECs a clear message in our strategic guidance about the growing importance of women in the work force. The plans of TECs show awareness of that, not only in their main training programmes but in the enterprise allowance scheme, whereby more than a third of enterprise allowance scheme support is given to women, and that has doubled since 1982.
Staffordshire TEC runs a course, mainly for women, to help to inform career choices. It is running short courses for women returners, often with creches, it has contributed to returners' day exhibitions and it has applied for funds for returners from the European social fund, which is rather innovative. There are several other examples of what TECs are doing, such as the issuing of women returners' newsletters, the setting up of returners' units by Essex TEC, action in Thames Valley TEC for retraining women in sales and marketing and action by Tyneside TEC, East Lancashire TEC, the Heart of England TEC and the Hertfordshire TEC.
A great deal is being done by TECs in different ways to promote the opportunity for women to return to work. However, as I said in response to the hon. Lady's intervention, the Government are setting a flexible framework for TECs to decide the real needs of women returning to work in their areas. We are allowing for women returners to enter employment training, even though they may not have been registered as unemployed. That is an element of flexibility. We are allowing part-time training and have given TECs greater flexibility in the payment of child care allowances while retaining the
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principle that child care allowances are mandatory for the long-term unemployed who need it under the Government's guarantee. Another crucial subject to which the hon. Lady referred was working practices. Ultimately, the question of the opportunity for women to return to work will be largely determined by what happens in the workplace, particularly employers' policies. The hon. Lady mentioned many ways in which employers can adapt working practices to make it easier for employees --men as well as women--to combine work and family responsibilities, such as job sharing, career breaks, part-time work, using new technology, and so on. I am happy to join her in paying tribute to ICL in that context.The Government believe that it is for employers to judge what best suits their circumstances. Many employers are taking a lead in adopting flexible working practices. For example, the civil service , which is a major employer, is setting a good example by spreading good practice. My Department will shortly publish a booklet that will illustrate working examples of innovative schemes and the benefits that they have brought to employees and their families.
I note what the hon. Lady said about child care. The Government believe that employers should be encouraged to recognise that child care assistance for their employees is an important way to recruit and retain the staff that they need. That is best done by voluntary action to ensure that employers find an appropriate way to match their needs with parents' requirements for child care. The Government's role is primarily regulatory to ensure higher standards, but we have been encouraging additional provision for good quality child care--for example, through the concession in the 1990 budget to exempt employer-provided nurseries from tax. That exemption goes wider than is often appreciated. It extends beyond the workplace--a fact which is often misunderstood--to nurseries run by employers at the workplace or elsewhere, and to nurseries run by employers jointly with other employers, voluntary bodies or local authorities. The provision is flexible and should be more widely taken up. Comparisons are often made between this country's performance on child care and that of other countries in the European Community. We have a different pattern of child care provision, with a greater mixture of private, public and voluntary sector provision for children of all ages, and we do not do too badly. The strength of our variety is reflected in the fact that about 86 per cent. of three and four-year-olds in Britain are in education and day care, which places us near the top of the European league table of comparisons. I hope that the hon. Lady referred to part-time work, because it is one of the most important areas of opportunity for women returners. Its growth was one of the most striking phenomena in the 1980s. It has increased by 34 per cent. since 1983 and is often a welcome form of flexible work for women who want to combine work with family responsibilities. It will be an increasingly important option in the 1990s. Research by the Confederation of British Industry suggests that 80 per cent. of women who wish to return to work in the next five years will look for part-time work. The labour force survey that my Department conducts shows that a high proportion of women who work part time do not want a full -time job.
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Indeed, only 7 per cent. said that they did. The evidence shows that the vast majority of part-time workers work part time because they prefer to do so.The hon. Lady did not mention the European Community's part-time and temporary work directives, which fall under the heading of some of the well -intentioned political and legislative actions that can be detrimental and damaging. They would increase the
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financial and administrative burdens on businesses, especially small ones, which is why we are resisting those proposals-- The motion having been made after half-past Two o'clock, and the debate having continued for half an hour, Mr. Deputy Speaker-- adjourned the House without Question put.Adjourned at four minutes past Three o'clock.
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