asked the Secretary of State for Employment when he proposes to lay orders before Parliament regarding the abolition of 16 industrial training boards; and if he will make a statement.
[pursuant to his reply, 22 March 1982, c. 249]: My right hon. Friend intends to lay statutory instruments in two batches to give effect to the decisions he announced on 16 November 1981. I anticipate that the first of these will be laid early in May and the second about a month later. The first batch is likely to include the air transport and travel, carpet, chemical and allied products, footwear leather and furskin, iron and steel, knitting, lace and net, man-made fibres producing, road transport and wool, jute and flax industry training boards.
| Merseyside special development area | Liverpool employment office area | |||
| March 1979 | October 1981 | March 1979 | October 1981 | |
| Carpenters and joiners | 581 | 1,005 | 64 | 133 |
| Electricians | 155 | 325 | 25 | 47 |
| Linesmen and cable jointers | 1 | 9 | — | 1 |
| Heating and ventilating engineering fitters | 24 | 70 | 4 | 6 |
| Plumbers and pipe fitters | 195 | 494 | 25 | 37 |
| Scaffolders (metal scaffolding) | 106 | 194 | 16 | 36 |
| Other steel erectors and riggers and cable splicers | 215 | 404 | 33 | 66 |
| Painters and decorators | 654 | 798 | 120 | 117 |
| Bricklayers and stone setters | 434 | 864 | 42 | 104 |
| Plasterers | 277 | 431 | 39 | 47 |
| Terrazzo workers and tile setters | 27 | 34 | 6 | 5 |
| Roofers | 122 | 255 | 16 | 32 |
| Glaziers | 5 | 35 | — | 9 |
| General builders | 205 | 339 | 17 | 45 |
| Pipe layers and jointers | 22 | 66 | 2 | 13 |
| Concreters | 9 | 15 | 1 | 2 |
| Earth movers and civil engineering equipment operators | 47 | 113 | 5 | 12 |
| Crane, hoist and other materials handling equipment operators | 84 | 221 | 2 | 14 |
| Total | 3,163 | 5,672 | 417 | 726 |
asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report a breakdown of the number of unemployed in the different trades in the building industry in England and Wales at the latest date together with comparable figures for March 1979.
The following table gives for March 1979 and October 1981, the last date for which the information is available, the numbers of unemployed people registered at employment offices in England and Wales for employment in skilled construction occupations.
| March 1979 | October 1981 | |
| Carpenters and joiners | 7,681 | 15,619 |
| Electricians | 1,899 | 5,335 |
| Linesmen and cable jointers | 75 | 143 |
| Heating and ventilating engineering fitters | 413 | 1,191 |
This timetable depends on employer organisations making continued progress in setting up alternative non-statutory training arrangements. My right hon. Friend will not lay orders until he is satisfied with progress in the industry concerned.