asked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will list the names and the colleges of the tutors whose training costs are being paid out of the grant made available by his Department for trade union education and training;(2) which trade unions received the £400,000 grant made available by his Department for trade union education and training in 1976–77; and how much each received;(3) whether courses at colleges and conference centres owned by trade unions are eligible for grants which have been made available by his Department for trade union education and training.

Grant to the TUC and affiliated independent trade unions for trade union education and training is made available jointly by my Department and by the Department of Education and Science. It is administered by the TUC in accordance with the terms and conditions of an agreed memorandum of agreements.Admissible categories of expenditure are defined within the memorandum. They include fees to LEAs for courses they run, course research and development and the provision of courses at the TUC training college and in unions' own Colleges. Grant is paid quarterly in arrears on certification by the TUC that the expenditure has been incurred within the terms of the memorandum.The TUC is required to produce annual audited accounts showing how the grant has been spent. The accounts are open to inspection by the Internal Audit Divisions of my Department and the Department of Education and Science. Itemised accounts identifying individual unions, colleges and tutors are not maintained by either Department.Courses at colleges and conference centres owned by trade unions are eligible for grant aid provided that the courses offered are within the terms of the memorandum which expressly precludes expenditure in connection with the function of full-time trade union officers and officials.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how his Department ensures that the trade union training and education financed by joint grants from his Department and the Department of Education and Science are free of party political bias and propaganda.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will conduct an inquiry into the activities of the Merseyside region of the job creation scheme.

No. I am informed that the Manpower Services Commission has already studied the operation of the job creation programme in Merseyside and in other areas during the preparation of

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Education and Science.—[Official Report, 17th November; Vol. 939, c. 318.]