To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what account he has taken of the representations on youth training funding for special needs young people, made to him by the Arthur Rank centre in its letter of 19 December 1990, in determining levels of such funding; and if he will make a statement.

[holding answer 23 January 1991]:Decisions on the appropriate levels of funding for youth workers in Great Britain in April 1990; and what was the proportion of those workers falling below the hourly earnings threshold of (a) £3·40, (b) £4·60 and (c) £4·75.

There were an estimated 906,000 part-time male employees in employment in March 1990. The estimated percentages of part-time adult male employees earning below specified amounts in the new earnings survey sample in April 1990 were:

Hourly earnings1	Per cent.
£3·40	49
£4·60	72
£4·80	74
1 Including overtime.

Estimates of the percentage earning below £4·75 are not available; the nearest available figures have been given. The figures relate to employees on adult rates whose earnings for the survey period were not affected by absence.