asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many people have been trained and retrained in Government training centres since 1st March 1974 to the latest date, compared with the figures for the comparable period for 1973.

I am advised by the Manpower Services Commission that as these figures are collected quarterly the numbers for the period from 1st March to 31st March are not identifiable. A comparison of the figures for the periods from 1st January to 30th September is as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many persons have undergone courses of retraining under the aegis of his Department in the last year for which figures are available; and what proportion of these have found permanent jobs related to the training received.

I am advised by the Manpower Services Commission that 44,524 persons sucessfully completed a course of training under the Training Opportunities Scheme (TOPS) in the period October 1973 to September 1974. Of these, 84 per cent. are known to have entered employment related to the training received.