asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many persons entered into engineering apprenticeship in each of the last 10 years; how many of these did so with the aid of Government grants and awards; and what numbers he expects to be taking up apprenticeships this year and next year.

I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that reliable information can be given only in respect of craft and technician apprentices recruited by firms in scope to the Engineering Industry Training Board and who follow courses of off-the-job first-year training as approved by that board. The figures are as follows:

		Total	Additional recruitment assisted by Government grants and awards (included in total)
1969–70	…	26,552	—
1970–71	…	26,589	—
1971–72	…	21,942	2,489
1972–73	…	16,788	1,528
1973–74	…	16,920	—
1974–75	…	23,496	—
1975–76	…	25,243	3,436
1976–77	…	24,249	3,619
1977–78	…	24,643	3,030
1978–79	…	24,248 (estimated)	1,595 (estimated)

The intake for the current year, 1979–80, is not yet complete but it is expected to be of the order of 24,000, of which some 1,800 will have been recruited with the aid of Government financed premium grants and training awards.A decision on the desirable intake in 1980–81 will not be taken by the engineering industry training board until the spring of 1980.