asked the Paymaster General if, pursuant to the reply of 17 February, Official Report column 528, he will specify the basis of the figure of 5 per cent. in relation to the number of YTS entrants with contracts of employment; and if he will give the scope and nature of the sample survey used.

The YTS start certificate, completed for every young person at the outset of a YTS training programme, records whether he or she has a contract of employment. That information, together with other details from the certificate, is recorded in the Manpower Services Commission YTS management information system. The figure of around 5 per cent. for the proportion of entrants with contracts of employment refers to the period April-December 1985.