To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he will tabulate the number of craft apprentices as defined by legal indentures currently attending either day release or sandwich courses at colleges of higher or further education, showing the number by convenient classes or categories of craft, trade, or future occupation;(2) if he will tabulate the number of craft apprenticeships entered into in each year since 1980 in convenient classes or categories of craft, trade, or future occupation.
The information is not available in the precise form requested. Estimates for Great Britain from the labour force survey of the number of people undertaking craft apprenticeships at the time of the survey are given in the table.
| Spring each Year | Thousands |
| 1983 | 229 |
| 1984 | 196 |
| 1985 | 201 |
| 1986 | 170 |
| 1987 | 173 |
| 1988 | 177 |
| 1989 | 206 |
| 1990 | 201 |
Note: Information for 1981 from the Labour Force Survey is not comparable with that for other years. There was no Labour Force Survey in 1980 or 1982.
Of the 201,000 craft apprentices in the spring of 1990, around 90,000 were attending day release or sandwich courses.