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Business and Technology Education Council
Mr. Murphy: To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee if he has considered an application for an exhibition relating to BTEC to be displayed in the Upper Waiting Hall.
Mr. Michael J. Martin: I understand that, under procedures agreed by the Administration Committee, arrangements have been made for the exhibition to be held in the Upper Waiting Hall from Monday 20 February to Friday 24 February 1995.
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EMPLOYMENT
Industrial Disputes
16. Sir Michael Neubert: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many days were lost through industrial disputes (a) in 1994 and (b) in 1979.
Mr. Oppenheim: In the 12 months to October 1994, 403,000 days were lost to strikes in the United Kingdom. This compares with a 1979 total of 29.5 million.
Equal Opportunities Commission
17. Mr. Austin-Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the future of the Equal Opportunities Commission.
Miss Widdecombe: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave earlier today to the hon. Member for Halifax (Mrs. Mahon).
Job Advertisements
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what legislative action is to be taken in respect of job advertisements that discriminate on grounds of age.
Miss Widdecombe: The Government have no intention of introducing age discrimination legislation, which we believe would be ineffective and would increase the burdens imposed on employers. The Government firmly believe that the way forward is through persuasion.
Redundancies, York
Mr. Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many redundancies have been notified in York in the past 12 months.
Mr. Oppenheim: Latest available figures from the quarterly labour force survey show that in Yorkshire and Humberside in summer 1994 20, 000 people were made redundant in the three months prior to interview. This figure is not seasonally adjusted.
Youth Training
Mr. Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what research he has commissioned to establish the proportion of young people aged between 16 and 17 whose training needs are not met by current training opportunities; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Paice: The Government are currently considering this issue on a cross-Government basis.
Baggage Handlers
21. Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the responsibilities of the Health
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and Safety Executive in relation to the transfer of baggage at airports.Mr. Oppenheim: The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for enforcing the law relating to the health and safety at work of baggage handlers.
Employment Opportunities
23. Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he plans to take to improve the opportunities to gain work for the long-term unemployed.
Miss Widdecombe: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given earlier by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to the hon. Member for Ross, Cromarty and Skye (Mr. Kennedy).
Unemployment
22. Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the current level of unemployment in Workington.
Mr. Oppenheim: In November 1994, unadjusted claimant unemployment in the Workington parliamentary constituency stood at 3,482, a fall of 5.9 per cent. over the year.
27. Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the level of unemployment nationally as indicated by the labour force survey; and what is the difference between this and the claimant total issued by his Department.
Mr. Oppenheim: On the seasonally adjusted basis, the summer 1994 labour force survey shows that 2.64 million people were unemployed in Great Britain under the International Labour Organisation definition, while the average claimant count figure over the same period stood at 2.53 million, a difference of 112,000.
Mr. Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment to what he attributes the fall in unemployment in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Portillo: Britain's unemployment has fallen faster than that of any other European country because we have pursued sound economic policies based on permanently low inflation and a deregulated, flexible labour market, combined with active measures to help people back to work.
Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the current rates of unemployment in each EU nation; and what were the figures (a) one and (b) five years previously.
Mr. Oppenheim: Internationally comparable unemployment rates based on the standardised International Labour Organisation definition of unemployment are published by EUROSTAT in its monthly "Unemployment Bulletin," copies of which are available in the Library. The information requested for each member of the EU as at the end of 1994 is given in the following table:
Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates in EU countries
|Latest month |Last Year |Five Years ago
|(October 1994)|(October 1993)|(October 1989)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Belgium |10.1 |9.7 |8.2
Denmark |9.8 |10.7 |7.8
Germany<1> |6.2 |6.0 |5.3
Greece<2> |- |- |-
Spain |22.1 |22.5 |16.7
France |11.3 |11.1 |9.2
Ireland |17.6 |18.4 |15.1
Italy |12.1 |11.3 |10.6
Luxembourg |3.5 |2.8 |2.0
Netherlands |<3>10.0 |9.5 |8.3
Portugal |6.1 |5.5 |4.8
United Kingdom |8.9 |10.3 |6.9
EC Average |10.7 |10.8 |8.7
Notes:
<1> No ILO rate available for unified Germany. The above rates are for the
former West Germany.
<2> Only 1991 annual average figures available for Greece.
<3> The latest rate shown is for September 1994.
Source:
Statistical Office of the European Community Unemployment Bulletin.
Sir Ralph Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer of 30 November, Official Report , column 756 , what was the total cost of unemployment to the Government in (a) 1990 91, (b) 1991 92 and (c) 1992 93, together with the cost per person unemployed.
Mr. Oppenheim: Total expenditure on benefits to the unemployed in Great Britain and the average benefit per person is shown in the following table:
Table 1. Expenditure on benefits to the unemployed
in Great Britain
|Average expenditure
|per claimant per
|Total expenditure |financial year
Financial year |£ millions |£<1>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1989-90 |4,501 |2,800
1990-91 |5,290 |3,180
1991-92 |7,558 |3,210
1992-93 |8,973 |3,260
1993-94 |9,720 |3,510
<1> Rounded to nearest £10.
The figures for total expenditure on benefits to the unemployed are taken from the Social Security Statistics 1994 published by the Department of Social Security. They differ slightly from those given in reply given by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary which were based on the DSS departmental report. The DSS has subsequently revised its estimates. The average expenditure figure is derived by dividing the total expenditure by the average number of the seasonally unadjusted claimant count during the financial year.
Sir Ralph Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the percentage change in the total cost of unemployment between (a) 1989 90 and 1990 91, (b) 1990 91 and 1991 92, (c) 1991 92 and 1992 93 and (d) 1992 93 and 1993 94.
Mr. Oppenheim: Total expenditure on benefits to the unemployed in Great Britain, and the annual change is shown in the following table:
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Table 1. Expenditure on benefits to the unemployed in
Great Britain
|Total |Percentage
|expenditure |change on
Financial year |£ millions |previous year
------------------------------------------------------------
1989-90 |4,501 |-
1990-91 |5,290 |+ 18
1991-92 |7,558 |+ 43
1992-93 |8,973 |+ 19
1993-94 |9,720 | + 8
The figures for total expenditure on benefits to the unemployed are taken from the "Social Security Statistics 1994", page 3.
Mr. Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number of 16 and 17-year-olds not in full-time education and without a job or training scheme (a) in spring 1994 and (b) on the most recent date for which figures are available (i) in the United Kingdom and (ii) in each part of the United Kingdom.
Mr. Paice [holding answer 20 December 1994]: I have written to the hon. Member and placed a copy of my reply in the Library.
Education and Training
Ms Corston: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much his Department is planning to spend on education and training per unemployed person in 1995 96; and what was the level in 1989 90 at 1995 96 prices.
Mr. Paice: As the programmes covered by this expenditure are by no means confined to the unemployed, it would not be appropriate to express expenditure per unemployed person.
Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service
Mr. Skinner: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the work of ACAS.
Mr. Oppenheim: Industrial relations have improved substantially during ACAS's 20-year lifetime. ACAS has played an important part in bringing about these improvements and will continue to do so.
Mr. Illsley: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much his Department is spending on
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training; and what the level of planned spending is in 1997 98 in today's prices.Mr. Paice: Forecast expenditure by the Department on training and education programmes this year is £2,042 million. Planned expenditure on these programmes in 1997 98 is £1,801 million at current prices.
Industrial Tribunals
28. Mr. Eric Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the future role of industrial tribunals.
Mr. Oppenheim: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Employment to my hon. Friend the Member for Wansdyke (Mr. Aspinwall) on 14 December 1994, Official Report , columns 696 97 .
Employment Service
29. Lady Olga Maitland: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people have been helped into jobs by the Employment Service in the last year.
Miss Widdecombe: The Employment Service placed 1,900,600 people into jobs in the last year. This is 16 per cent. more than in the previous year.
Special Advisers
Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn) of 1 December, Official Report , column 871 , if he will make a statement regarding his Department's expenditure on special advisers in each of the last three financial years and for the financial year 1979 80.
Miss Widdecombe: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary on 19 December 1994, Official Report , column 937 .
North Norfolk Action
Sir Ralph Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer of 14 December, Official Report, column 696, if he will make a statement on the principal findings (a) for North Norfolk Action and (b) for each of the Workstart programmes.
Miss Widdecombe: Evaluations of North Norfolk Action and Workstart both showed encouraging results, and action is being taken to build on these. The most successful element of North Norfolk Action has already been adopted in the 1-2-1 pilot for 18 to 24-year-olds, which will become a national programme in April 1995. The evaluation of Workstart indicated that the subsidy has had a significant effect on employers' attitudes to long-term unemployed people. The 5,000 Workstart places announced in the Budget will provide an opportunity to explore the potential for varying the level of subsidy to obtain the most cost-effective results.
Sir Ralph Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the total amount the Government have (a) saved from the Workstart scheme and (b) spent on North Norfolk Action, since their implementation; and
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what has been the expenditure or saving per person per week on each scheme.Miss Widdecombe: Savings in public expenditure from any employment programme arise from long-term improvements in the functioning of the labour market, and cannot be calculated in the terms requested. Evaluation of Workstart suggested that it had had a positive effect on employers' willingness to recruit long-term unemployed people, and this approach will be explored further using the 5,000 pilot places announced in the Budget. North Norfolk Action provided work experience or a series of interviews with an Employment Service adviser for people who had been out of the labour market for some time. The national work experience programme, community action, was extended in the Budget, and will provide 40,000 places a year. Under the first Workstart pilot, employers who recruited long-term unemployed people were paid £60 a week for the first six months, and £30 a week for the next six. Expenditure on the pilot until the end of November 1994 totalled £1,494,516.
Providers on North Norfolk Action were paid £52 per week per place, and the total cost of the pilot was £686,624.
Non-wage Labour Costs
Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment he has made of the effect of non-wage labour costs on employment prospects.
Mr. Oppenheim: Non-wage labour costs are lower in the United Kingdom than in most countries of the European Union. I believe that any increase in such costs would worsen employment prospects as high non-wage labour costs make it more expensive for employers to create jobs.
Electronic Mail
Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when he expects to be able to receive and respond to communications via electronic mail.
Miss Widdecombe: Officials within the Department are investigating the possibility of establishing links to external E-mail services.
Self-employment
Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the level of the self-employment in Great Britain in (a) 1979, (b) 1985 and (c) 1994.
Mr. Oppenheim: The information is given in the following table.
Self-employment: Great
Britain (seasonally adjusted)
|Thousands
------------------------------
June 1979 |1,956
June 1985 |2,704
June 1994 |3,192
Training and Enterprise Councils
Mr. Bill Michie: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what surpluses were held by each training
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and enterprise council at the end of each of the last two financial years.Mr. Paice: A list of English training and enterprise councils, their accumulated reserves and in-year operating surpluses, as shown in their annual statutory audited accounts, at the end of the financial year 1992 93 is shown in the following table.
I am unable to give the figures requested for 1993 94 as this information is not yet in the public domain for every TEC. However, as TEC accounts for 1993 94 become available to the Department, copies will be placed in the Library.
|Accumulated |Post tax
|reserves |operating surplus
|92-93 |92-93
TECS by region |£ 000s |£
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern
County Durham |6,582 |2,595,107
Northumberland |3,696 |1,233,752
Teesside |9,186 |3,388,000
Tyneside |4,486 |(883,000)
Sunderland (Wearside) |2,514 |512,381
|26,464 |6,846,240
North West
CEWTEC |2,579 |603,311
Cumbria |2,999 |110,772
ELTEC |3,364 |1,338,587
LAWTEC |2,917 |(236,657)
Merseyside |4,210 |1,191,532
NORMID |1,093 |(418,902)
QUALITEC |1,055 |312,509
|18,217 |2,901,152
Greater Manchester
Bolton/Bury |2,861 |847,848
Manchester |3,377 |(880,942)
METRO |519 |108,000
Oldham |1,456 |83,406
Rochdale |1,087 |597,651
South and East Cheshire |2,419 |420,244
Stockport and High Peak |2,782 |655,247
|14,501 |1,831,454
Yorks and Humber
Barnsley/Doncaster |3,993 |1,012,208
Bradford |3,432 |1,524,888
Calderdale and Kirklees |828 |(1,574)
Humberside |5,193 |2,258,408
Leeds |5,724 |2,160,436
North Yorks |4,353 |936,000
Rotherham |2,865 |1,134,336
Sheffield |4,157 |883,000
Wakefield |3,110 |668,301
|33,655 |10,576,003
Eastern
Bedfordshire |1,556 |220,801
CAMBS |622 |34,280
Essex |5,037 |742,805
Gtr Peterborough |1,532 |661,071
Hertfordshire |2,641 |1,199,133
Norfolk and Waverney |2,161 |(411,789)
Suffolk |2,984 |473,259
|16,533 |2,919,560
East Midlands
Gtr Nottingham |944 |98,000
Leicester |4,597 |1,888,317
Lincolnshire |2,553 |1,328,872
Northamptonshire |1,977 |109,609
North Derbyshire |749 |87,828
North Nottinghamshire |1,289 |(376,000)
South Derbyshire |4,106 |611,343
|16,215 |3,747,969
West Midlands
Birmingham |1,212 |(1,606,000)
Central England |1,340 |347,027
Coventry/Warwick |2,203 |7,122
Dudley |1,214 |801,744
HAWTEC |1,679 |702,859
Sandwell |1,706 |788,829
Shropshire |1,304 |703,807
Staffordshire |5,789 |1,717,636
Walsall |2,340 |941,491
Wolverhampton |1,411 |379,147
|20,198 |4,783,662
South West
Avon |3,071 |1,647,961
Devon/Cornwall |7,407 |121,000
Dorset |2,848 |53,973
Gloucester |1,575 |666
Somerset |1,746 |711,143
Wiltshire |1,110 |251,265
|17,757 |2,786,008
London
AZTEC |1,932 |411,486
CENTEC |906 |757,876
CILNTEC |2,161 |1,610,046
LETEC |655 |1,138,517
North London |3,005 |1,851,198
North West London |864 |424,679
SOLOTEC |3,439 |2,530,966
South Thames |3,611 |2,318,842
West London |1,163 |1,000,929
|17,736 |12,044,539
South East
Hampshire |4,679 |1,430,483
Isle of White |879 |161,087
Kent |5,774 |2,231,284
Milton Keynes/Nth Bucks |677 |99,326
Heart of England |2,424 |860,611
Surrey |1,663 |967,259
Sussex |5,230 |1,875,000
Thames Valley Ent. |3,970 |643,002
|25,296 |8,268,052
Grand total |206,572 |56,704,639
Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the total budget of Hampshire training and enterprise council for the year 1994 95.
Mr. Paice: The budget made available by the Employment Department, Department of the Environment and Department for Trade and Industry to Hampshire training and enterprise council during 1994 95 is £40, 543,124.
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Apprenticeships
Mr. Robert Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what guidance he has given to training and enterprise councils concerning assurances they can give to employers about funding for the modern apprentice scheme beyond the first year.
Mr. Paice: The operating agreement between the Department and the training and enterprise councils provides assurances for the continuity of funding. This ensures that sufficient funds will be made available to TECs so that young people on modern apprenticeships can complete their training.
Mr. Robert Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what representations he has received concerning the need to give long-term commitments to employers involved in the modern apprentice scheme.
Mr. Paice: I am not aware of having received any particular representations concerning the need to give long-term commitments to employers involved in modern apprenticeships. Sufficient funds will be made available to training and enterprise councils to ensure that young people can complete their training under modern apprenticeship with employers-- normally some three years.
Mr. Robert Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what checks his Department is planning on attendance records for those involved in the modern apprentice scheme and working with an employer.
Mr. Paice: In training and enterprise council areas where there is a pilot scheme for starts and outcomes funding, no attendance records will be made. Where training weeks continue to be used, checks will be made to substantiate training weeks claimed from the Department and that these records are in accordance with the Department's requirements. For employed status trainees the records required are either:
(a) employers' own payroll or attendance records, providing these record unauthorised absence and employers are prepared for them to be used to verify the attendance of modern apprentices; or (b) the attendance records specified by the Department. A sample of records will be checked, primarily by the TEC with whom the provider of the modern apprenticeship has a contract, in accordance with the guidance issued by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment. The checks will be the same as for other programmes where the Department pays for training weeks.
Work Trials
Mr. Barnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many firms and individuals have been involved in work trials in the parliamentary constituency of Derbyshire, North-East since the inception of the scheme; how many people have been placed in permanent employment on (a) a full-time and (b) a part-time basis as a consequence; and if he will make a statement.
Miss Widdecombe: Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
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Letter from M.E.G. Fogden to Mr. Harry Barnes, dated 10 January 1995:The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about Work Trials in the parliamentary constituency of North East Derbyshire.
Although performance information is not recorded on a constituency basis, North Derbyshire is broadly covered by the Employment Service Jobcentres in Clay Cross, Dronfield, Eckington and Staveley. Since inception of the Work Trial scheme in April 1993, these offices have signed agreements with 45 employers and run 102 Work Trials which have resulted in 70 placings.
Records of the break-down of these placings into full and part time work are not maintained by the majority of Work Trials are for full time positions of over 16 hours a week.
I hope this is helpful.
Telephone Dialling Codes
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment has been made as to the additional costs which will be incurred by his Department as a result of the changes in national telephone dialling codes next year; and how much this change will cost his Department in additional expenditure.
Miss Widdecombe: Disaggregated information of this nature is not available.
Employment, London
Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the net increase or decrease of jobs in London which he estimates for 1995.
Mr. Oppenheim: Information on employment projections is not available. The level of civilian work force in employment in Greater London increased by 65,000--2 per cent.--over the year to September 1994.
Source:
Work force in employment survey.
Part-time Employment
Mr. Spearing: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number of the article in the amended treaty of Rome relating to his announcement concerning part-time employment of 20 December 1994, together with the dates at which Her Majesty's Government assented to the article, and those on which the House gave a Second and Third Reading to the relevant ratifying Act.
Miss Widdecombe: The judicial review case R. v Secretary of State for Employment ex parte Equal Opportunities Commission and another was brought under article 119 of the treaty of Rome, which has been in the treaty since it was adopted in 1957; under the equal pay directive, which was adopted in 1975 and came into force in 1976; and under the equal treatment directive, which was adopted in 1976 and came into force in 1978. The application of article 119 is a consequence of the United Kingdom's accession to the European Community, which was approved by Parliament in the European Communities Act 1972. The directives' requirements are met in the UK by provisions of the Equal Pay Act 1970 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975.
Manufacturing Industry
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many skilled workers have lost their jobs in manufacturing industry since 1979.
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Mr. Oppenheim: The information is not available in the form requested.
Young People
Mr. Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish tables showing for spring 1994 and for the latest date for which figures are available the total number of 16 and 17-year-olds in the United Kingdom together with the number and percentage who are (a) employed, (b) self-employed, (c) full-time students, (d) undertaking Government employment and training programmes, (e) classified as International Labour Organisation unemployed and (f) economically inactive.
Mr. Oppenheim [holding answer 16 December 1994]: My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Employment has written to the hon. Member and placed a copy of his reply in the Library.
Mr. Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the opportunities available for young people aged 16 and 17 years who are classified as (a) ILO unemployed and (b) economically inactive.
Mr. Paice [holding answer 16 December 1994]: I have written to the hon. Member and placed a copy of my reply in the Library.
Christmas Expenditure
Mr. Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much public money will be spent on entertaining, Christmas decorations and other festive activities this Christmas season by his Department and Government agencies answerable to his Department; and of this sum how much will be spent in Ministers' private offices and offices and official residences.
Miss Widdecombe: [pursuant to her reply, 28 November 1994, column 515]: I regret that my reply of 28 November, Official Report, column 515, was incorrect. It should have read: such costs are included in the total running cost expenditure for this Department which is published in the departmental report, copies of which are available in the Library.
Social Affairs Council
Mr. Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the outcome of the EC Social Affairs Council held on 21 December 1994.
Miss Widdecombe: I attended the Social Affairs Council on 21 December in Brussels, for a further discussion of the draft directive on posted workers.
Discussion was again inconclusive. As at the previous Council on 6 December 1994, I made clear our considerable difficulties of both principle and detail. A number of other member states, also, had significant difficulties with the proposal, and agreement was not reached.
Commissioner Flynn reported to the Council on the Essen European Council.
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