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Temporary Employment
7. Ms Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement on the proportion of employees currently in temporary employment. [9421]
The Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment (Mr. Eric Forth): Latest figures from the labour force survey indicate that about 7.5 per cent. of employees are in some form of temporary employment.
Ms Anderson: Is the Minister aware that, according to the latest labour force survey, the number of people who are in temporary jobs because they said that they could not find permanent jobs has increased by 140 per cent. over the past five years? Can the Minister explain that increase?
Mr. Forth: The number in temporary employment fluctuates, depending on economic circumstances and the development of the labour market. The hon. Lady seems to have missed the point that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made earlier. If one regards temporary work as being undesirable--I in no way agree with that view; temporary work has its place in the economy--Britain has a much lower number, and proportion, of workers in temporary employment than nearly all of our major continental partners, especially those of a socialist bent who are imposing social chapter conditions and statutory minimum wages on their employees. The more restrictions one seeks to place on the labour market, the more likely there is to be a higher number of temporary workers. I hope that the hon. Lady will convey that fact to her Front-Bench colleagues.
Mr. Marlow: Does my hon. Friend include in his statistics of those in temporary employment the hon. Member for Peckham (Ms Harman)--in view of the remark of the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) that, if she has not been fired between now and later in the year, she will be voted out of the shadow Cabinet? If she loses her job, does my hon. Friend recommend that she become a teacher in a grammar school or that she go down t'pit, as suggested by the hon. Member for Bolsover?
Mr. Forth: Perhaps I should arrange for a form from the next labour force survey to be sent to the hon. Lady so that we can be sure that her status is clear.
Mr. Meacher: Does the Minister think it right and fair that, generally, temporary workers do not get sick pay or premium payments for working overtime or shifts, are excluded from occupational pensions and are paid less than full-time staff for doing the same work? I have with
me examples such as a double-glazing factory worker from north Wales on £1.75 an hour, a trainee hairdresser in Oldham on £40 a week who has to pay £5 a week in bus fares and lunch money and an advertisement from a jobcentre in Chorley for a landscape gardener for just £1 an hour. Is it not disgusting that Tory economics favour six-figure, fat cat executive share options on the back of the temporary worker sweatshop economy?
Mr. Forth: I recommend to the hon. Gentleman that he listens to our replies before he reads out his prepared soundbites. If, as he seems to be, he is saying that temporary employment is undesirable and disastrous, he should examine his party's policy more closely and explain to the electorate and the work force why the policies that he seeks to impose would almost inevitably greatly increase the number of temporary employees to the sort of figure that is found in socialist Spain. When he has an explanation for that, he should come back to the House and give it.
Commuters
9. Mr. Barry Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what studies she has made of the average daily number of workers commuting into travel-to-work areas with a higher than average level of unemployment. [9423]
Mr. Forth: The Department has not made any such studies.
Mr. Field: A number of commuters travel from the mainland to the Isle of Wight every day despite the relatively high unemployment on the Isle of Wight. Will my hon. Friend consider including the island in a study at some future date to discover why the island's resident population are not taking the jobs that are filled by commuters from the mainland?
Mr. Forth: My hon. Friend asks an interesting question. It is undeniable that a large number of people are prepared to travel extraordinary distances--for example, from Southwark to Bromley--to improve their family circumstances. I have even heard of family members travelling from Islington to Hammersmith. That illustrates that the labour market is a free market, and we encourage people to move to wherever they can better themselves.
As for my hon. Friend's constituency, the only figures that I have been able to find show that local council planners in his authority estimate that, each day, 1,000 people travel off his island to work and about 500 people travel on to the island. There is a healthy awareness in the locality of my hon. Friend's constituency of the availability of jobs. My hon. Friend asked an interesting question and I shall consider his proposal as a prospective project for my Department's research budget next year.
Mr. Ian McCartney:
The Government have introduced a travel-to-interview scheme for travel-to-work areas. Under the scheme, unemployed workers are entitled to subsidies to help with the costs of travelling to interviews. Owing to the scheme's mismanagement, 88,000 people have been refused access to that resource. As we speak, a young gentleman called Chris Owen is
Mr. Forth:
The hon. Gentleman displays his usual ignorance of the rules of the schemes that we introduce to help people who are out of work. Opposition Members--and certainly the hon. Gentleman--do not understand that each scheme and programme to help people who are out of work has to have its rules. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman would not have it otherwise, because taxpayers' money could be misdirected. It is for individuals and experts in the Employment Service to find the best way to help each individual. If someone wants to dramatise his position by doing what the hon. Gentleman has described, that is a matter for the individual involved. I will not be accused, and I will certainly not have the Employment Service accused, of not doing everything possible to help people in reasonable circumstances to return to work. Our track record on that is extraordinarily good.
10. Mr. Mark Robinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what additional resources will be provided for education in Somerset in 1995-96. [9424]
Mr. Robin Squire:
Somerset's education standard spending assessment increased by £3.5 million in 1995-96 and is set to rise by £7.4 million or 5.1 per cent. in 1996-97.
Mr. Robinson:
Does my hon. Friend share the outrage of parents, teachers and governors in Somerset and my constituency at the fact that the Liberal Democrat-controlled county council is thinking of not passing on up to £3 million of that £7.4 million to schools in Somerset? Is that not particularly disappointing given the excellent series of reports that the Office for Standards in Education has recently issued that show the quality of the schools in my constituency?
Mr. Squire:
I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. He will remember--as I suspect do all my hon. Friends--that throughout the past year the Liberal Democrats have been accusing the Government of underspending on education. Now, as my hon. Friend rightly said, as a result of the settlement announced, there is ample opportunity in Somerset for the Liberal Democrat council to spend that money on education. If it does not do so, to use a word in common usage at present, it will be being hypocritical.
Mr. Don Foster:
Further to the reply that the Minister has just given, will he confirm to the House
Mr. Squire:
The total increase in spending that Somerset can make next year is about £8.5 million--the type of figure for all services that most local education authorities would be delighted to receive. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that a restricted document has fallen into public ownership. I am a little unclear whether his contribution today should be described as naive, woolly or barmy--all words used in the document--but I would say to him that it is right and proper for the local education authority in Somerset to be able to spend that money overwhelmingly on education, and it has the means to do so.
Mr. David Nicholson:
Will my hon. Friend support the efforts made by Conservative Members and Conservative county councillors in Somerset to ensure that all the money budgeted for education this year goes to schools and is not retained by county hall? Apart from the resource argument, will he acknowledge that there must be constant pressure to improve teaching methods and standards in schools, which is why all Conservative Members welcome the motives of, and commend the example shown by, the hon. Member for Peckham (Ms Harman)?
Mr. Squire:
I agree with both the main points made by my hon. Friend. As he well knows, the Government are committed to raising standards in all our schools--including those in inner cities, which appear to be so unpopular at present among Opposition Members.
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