asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is his latest estimate of the number of unemployed school leavers in Scotland.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the latest employment prospects for school leavers in Scotland.

On 12th July, 6,739 school leavers were registered as unemployed in Scotland. About 40,000 young people left school for employment this summer and, although vacancies are fewer than in previous years, I am hopeful that the majority will find jobs within a reasonable period. Careers officers are doing everything possible to help them.

Will the Secretary of State use his influence, as a senior member of the Cabinet, with the Defence Secretary to reflect on the decision to contract the civillan training, which is of very high standard, at the naval dockyard of Rosyth and Caledonia to see whether it could be expanded, not contracted, in the present situation?

This is a matter for my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Defence but I will take an interest in it. The hon. Gentleman probably knows not only that a number of hon. Members have discussed this matter with my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State but also that the rundown is not planned until 1979.

No. Instructors are being paid off.

Does not the right hon. Gentleman acknowledge that the figure of 6,000 is an under-estimate, because many of the young people have gone directly on holiday and have not registered? The true figure of unemployment among school leavers in Scotland is likely to be between 15 and 30 per cent. Will he take urgent steps to ensure that we do not lose these skills to Scotland, since when the next Labour Government are in power we shall create the type of economy that employs them?

What is needed above all is an expanding economy, and for the first time for more than six years we have a Government who have taken measures to see that we get it. In the meantime, I agree that the figure of 6,739 may not represent the full figure, for the reasons mentioned. While the House should take this very seriously, we should not spread unnecessary gloom. I believe that, with the planned extra career officers and the other measures we are taking, the position will be better than some people fear.

In view of what the right hon. Gentleman has just said, does he realise how important it is that he should not appear to be becoming the Secretary of State for Unemployment in Scotland?

I realise how important the matter is. That is why I welcome so strongly the first major expansionary steps taken by any Government for over six years.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment when he hopes to reach his decision on the report of his Retail Prices Index Advisory Committee on regional prices; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend will announce his decision shortly when he has considered the full implications of the Committee's recommendations.

I am grateful for that reply. Will the hon. Gentleman bear in mind that the cost of living in London is at least 15 per cent. higher than that in the rest of the country and that the quicker this report is published the better?

I understand the hon. Members concern with this subject. We are not trying to hold the report back, but it has proved a highly complicated subject, so much so that the Advisory Committee had to submit the problem to a technical committee, and so there is much to think about. But a statement will be made shortly.

Will my hon. Friend avoid collecting and publishing statistics just for the sake of doing so? We have a special index for pensioners, and I am sure that that is right, but we do not want a plethora of indices to be published.

It has been the policy of my Department since 18th June, last year, to see that no unnecessary statistics are provided.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what action he is taking to reduce the number of unemployed persons in the area of the Thorne Employment Exchange.

The Government's various measures to stimulate output, in particular the tax reductions and the large infrastructure programme announced by my right hon. Friends, will have a generally beneficial effect on the employment situation, which Thorne can be expected to share.

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that reply. Is he aware that new employment opportunities at Thorne may be discouraged so long as there is the faintest likelihood that Thorne colliery will reopen and absorb manpower? Will he therefore press the Chairman of the National Coal Board for an early decision one way or another about the future of Thorne colliery?

We are aware of the situation in Thorne and I will certainly bear in mind what the hon. Gentleman said.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that a stimulus to consumer expenditure of the kind announced last week, however welcome it may be in some other parts of the country, will not do much, if anything, to relieve the structural unemployment in my hon. Friend's constituency and in other constituencies in South Yorkshire?

There is a special problem with coal mining. It was not just a stimulus to consumer expenditure which was announced last week. My right hon. Friend also announced free depreciation for plant and machinery in service industries in development areas, an increased rate of first-year allowances on all capital expenditure, and many other measures.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the Doncaster travel-to-work area, of which Thorne is a part, now has nearly 6,000 unemployed, a level of almost 6 per cent.? Is he aware that his right hon. Friend at the Department of Trade and Industry told me the other day that only 1,954 jobs would be in prospect in the area over the next few years? Is it not clear that the Government should have a crash programme to relieve the problems of South Yorkshire generally where unemployment is higher than the average for the development areas?

The rate for the Don-caster travel-to-work area is 5·4 per cent., not quite 6 per cent., but still very high, as I concede.

It is 650 up since that figure was taken.

The Government believe that the wide range of measures which have been taken will have a major effect on job opportunities.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many short courses at lower levels of skill have been started within Government Training Centres since January, 1971: and if he will make a statement.

Since this experimental scheme was announced in November, four courses have been started and another eight are planned by the end of the year.

Would my hon. Friend say how successful these courses have been, with a view to their expansion?

These courses are at semiskilled level and are a totally new departure for the G.T.C.s. Early experience so far has shown that they prepare people successfully for work, and another interesting development is that many of the trainees have qualified for skilled training in the same G.T.C.

In view of the obvious difficulties in fragmented industries and the abrupt and rather unexpected manner in which the Minister wound up the Hair-dressing and Allied Trades Industrial Training Board, would the hon. Member undertake to provide courses in those areas which are not covered by an appropriate industrial training board? Does he not agree that the Government have an important rôle to play in filling the gap?

This Question is about the G.T.C.s and what the hon. Gentleman has said hardly applies to them. However, we are encouraging opportunities for training by private employers with surplus training capacity, and what the hon. Gentleman said may apply in that direction.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a further statement on the Government's plans to deal with the problem of finding employment for the 500,000 school leavers who will be seeking jobs at the end of July.

I have authorised an additional 20 career officer posts in areas of higher employment and career officers in all parts of the country are doing all they can to help school leavers find jobs quickly. The measures the Government are taking to stimulate the economy will progressively improve employment prospects.

May I say from this side of the House—

Order. The hon. Member may not say; he may ask.

May I put it to the Secretary of State that we are appalled by the Government's complacent attitude to this serious problem? Is he aware that there are tens of thousands of school leavers who will be without jobs for perhaps weeks and months, and that is not an exaggeration? Perhaps he would like to refute the statement by the Prime Minister in that respect. I am pleased to hear what the Secretary of State has said on this—

Order. The hon. Member has asked two supplementary questions already, and I think that the Minister must now answer.

I assure the hon. Gentleman and the House that I am not complacent at all about what is a serious situation, nor are any of my colleagues. In my Department we are concentrating on improving our service for getting people into the jobs which are available with the maximum speed. I have appointed extra careers officers for the purpose. I have publicly appealed to all employers who were cutting down their intake of young people for training to change their minds. But, above all, I repeat, the Government, for the first time for more than seven years, have taken major measures for the expansion of the economy.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the number of unfilled vacancies for young people, or older people, in Wales has fallen dramatically and that if he appointed 100 career officers, that would not provide jobs?

I am well aware of that, but there is still much to do in getting people to the jobs which are available and doing so as quickly as possible and with as much skill and help as possible. The real need is to expand the economy. From 1964 to 1970 we had complete stagnation; we now have major expansion on the way.

Would my right hon. Friend care to recommend to the hen. Member for Derby, South (Mr. Walter Johnson) and his hon. Friends that one of the best ways in which to promote good prospects for employment in industry for these people would be through their co-operation with the Government about our entering the Common Market?

As I have said publicly, I certainly think that the prospects of employment for all ages would be improved by our membership of the Common Market.

Has the Minister's attention been drawn to the report of the careers officer in the County of Durham saying that of 6,000 school leavers, 3,000 will be unable to obtain immediate employment? What are the Government to do about that?

As I have made clear, I am aware of the present serious situation. What the Government are doing about it is to expand the economy, and that has not been done for seven years.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will amend the Code of Industrial Relations Practice to include the suggestion that employers should actively encourage workers to join trade unions.

I will give careful consideration to this and all other comments made on the consultative document.

Is the right hon. Genteman aware that industrial strife is often attributed to trade unions, but is due to the attitude of arrogant and ignorant employers, and that a survey shows that more than 40 per cent. of British employers are hostile to the trade unions? What proposals has he for changing the attitude of management, because that could do more than any repressive legislation to create good industrial relations?

I do not necessarily accept the hon. Gentleman's adjectives, but I agree, and I have made it clear, for example, in the Industrial Relations Bill and the consultative document, that the primary responsibility for good industrial relations rests on management. I have publicly, not only in the House but outside, expressed the belief that trade unionism ought to be encouraged. I think that that is right. I assure the hon. Gentleman that I will take account of what he said.

Would not my right hon. Friend agree that paragraph 6(c) on the first page of the consultative document says—[HON MEMBERS: "Reading."] I am reading from the document; it says—

Order. The hon. Member may not quote a document during Question time.

I apologise. In this paragraph there is a statement to the effect that it is one of the responsibilities of management to encourage employees to join trade unions. Is not that the straight answer to the hon. Gentleman's question?

That is certainly so. The Code of Practice has to take account of all forms of employment, including places where trade unions are not as yet recognised. The Bill will be a strong encouragement to trade union membership.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that it needed a major debate on the Industrial Relations Bill in Committee to get words into the Bill to prevent it from actively discouraging workers from joining trade unions? [Interruption] Hon. Members opposite have not taken part in these debates and do not know. It was the hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mr. David Mitchell) and others who had to point out to the right hon. Gentleman that as it then stood the Bill actively discouraged workers from joining a union. That is why the Government had to move an Amendment. Then we awaited the Code of Industrial Practice—[Interruption.] I am sorry that hon. Members opposite do not like the facts—[HON. MEMBERS: "Question."] I have asked the right hon. Gentleman whether it is not a fact —[Interruption.] Mr. Speaker knows that I am in order.

I know that the right hon. Lady is in order. But I was wondering whether she was anticipating later discussions.

I am answering— [Interruption.]

In that case the right hon. Lady is not in order if she is answering.

I am dealing with the point—[HON. MEMBERS: "No."]—and asking the Secretary of State whether it is not a fact that the Code of Industrial Practice in Section 6 carefully qualifies a management's duty to encourage trade unionism, limiting it to those cases where trade unions are already recognised? Is it not a fact that the gap in the code has already been commented on by the unions?

I do not accept the right hon. Lady's interpretation over what happened to the Bill in Committee. What I do recall is that when an Amendment— which I accepted—was moved, to introduce a primary responsibility upon management into the Bill, it was opposed by the first speaker from the benches opposite. As to the right hon. Lady's second point, it is true, as I have said, that since this code must deal with all forms of employment, including employment where there is no union, I must limit the substance of the code as I have done. In the foreword I make it clear that the principle of the code is based on employees being members of a trade union.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many requests he has had from trade unions for copies of the Code of Industrial Relations Practice.

Trade unions have so far asked for and received some 11,000 copies of the draft code through the headquarters and regional offices of my Department.

I thank my right hon. Friend for that figure. Does not he agree that it demonstrates that, no matter what the initial reaction of the T.U.C. may have been to the publication of the code, many trade unions have found it very valuable, and of interest to them?

I am certainly encouraged that we have had 11,000 requests for copies. I hope that the demand will continue. I repeat my hope that all trade unions will consult about this document.

Can the right hon. Gentleman tell us what the reaction has been from any recipients of the 11,000 copies? What representations have been made by any trade union affiliated to the T.U.C?

As far as I know, no comments have yet been received.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will give, as a percentage of the total number of people who are placed in employment, those placed by his Department; and what estimate he has made of the percentage placed by agencies and through Press advertising, respectively.

The best estimate we can make is about 20 per cent. A sample survey in 1967 suggested that, taking the employment field as a whole, about 35 per cent. were placed through advertising and 2 per cent. by private agencies.

Is it not rather disturbing to hear that the Department is not having a great deal of success? Is the hon. Gentleman aware that it is obvious that unemployed people feel that there is much more chance of getting a job through advertisements in the Press and through agencies? Will he institute a commission of inquiry into this and bring some of the employment exchanges up to date, operating modern methods of placing people in work?

The figure is as big as ever it was and it compares pretty favourably with the United States where they have between 15 per cent. and 20 per cent. official placings, and 25 per cent. in Sweden where there is a total monopoly. We are not complacent about this. The hon. Gentleman probably knows that we are reviewing the whole of the employment services, and my right hon. Friend hopes to be able to announce his plans in the autumn.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he can now estimate when the Robens Committee will report.

The Committee continues to make good progress but it is still too early to say when it will report.

Can my hon. Friend say whether the Committee's findings will be so comprehensive that they will cover employees not at present covered by the Factories Act? Secondly, can he say whether the Committee is consulting with our future partners in the E.E.C. so that this new legislation, when it appears, can be a code of practice for all Europe?

I can assure my hon. Friend that the Committee is considering the problem of employees not covered by the Factories Act. It is conducting a wide-ranging inquiry and has recently visited the United States, West Germany and Canada. I will draw the attention of the Committee to my hon. Friend's remarks to make sure that it covers all the points he has put.

Does that mean that the Committee's consideration will include teachers and other employees in schools?

Yes, it covers a wide range, pretty well everyone whose safety and health comes into account when they are at work. It is well beyond the shop floor.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment when the provisions of the Industrial Relations Bill on legally enforceable agreements will come into force.

My right hon Friend will be making an announcement shortly about the timetable for implementing the various provisions of the Bill.

While thanking my hon. Friend for that reply, may I ask him to be more specific and to give an assurance that an announcement will be made before the House goes into recess? Can he say whether he will make an announcement on all aspects of the Bill and when each part will be implemented?

I cannot give any such assurance. The Government propose to implement the Measure as soon as the institutions and other arrangements can be soundly established. Of necessity this means that implementation must be progressive.

Has the hon. Gentleman considered what this is likely to mean? Is he aware that the Trades Union Congress is advising all affiliated unions not to agree to enforceable legal agreements? Is he aware that this can lead to a situation in which we are likely to have absolute chaos in industry as a result of this Bill because of the Government's stupid attitude in continuing with this concept of enforceable contracts?

I do not accept any of the hon. Gentleman's remarks. No doubt the Secretary of State will take all these matters into consideration when he makes his decision.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what improvements in employment exchanges he has made since June, 1970.

Forty-eight exchanges have been rehoused in better premises and major improvements to another 59 offices completed. The Occupational Guidance Service has been strengthened and six more units established. The number of exchanges offering self-service facilities has been doubled and computerised job banks have been set up for the London area and nationally for certain occupations.

To what extent has there been progress in separating the benefits side from the employment arrangements? Can my right hon. Friend say to what extent job banks are filling the vacancies in any of the service industries, where there is still under-employment?

To answer my hon. Friend's first question, this matter is still under consideration although I would add that we regard it as one of the most important questions to settle. We are in no doubt that the job banks are of great assistance in speeding up the matching of jobs with the available people. Although this does not of itself create more jobs, it is of importance, socially and economically. In operating the system, I am following what was started by the right hon. Member for Blackburn (Mrs. Castle), and I am very glad to be able to say so.

Would the right hon. Gentleman not agree that the real improvement in our employment services depends on a fundamental reorganisation, outlined in the consultative document on the future of the employment service which I issued as long ago as May, 1970? Is he aware that the House has been waiting impatiently for the outcome of the consultations? Fifteen months have elapsed and we still have no date for the appearance of the right hon. Gentleman's proposals. Does he not think that this should have had a higher priority than the Industrial Relations Bill?

The two have not been competing. As I made clear to the House, while I accept the importance of the review of the employment services, set in hand by the right hon. Lady, it is also important to look at the whole employment policy, including trainng—all in one—and to set our course for the future looking at it all in one.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if, in view of the increase in persons registering for employment at Coatbridge Employment Exchange, he will make arrangements to provide additional accommodation, as existing facilities are inadequate.

It is proposed to rehouse the exchange, together with other Government Departments, in a new office development in the town centre. Meanwhile, improvements are to be made to existing premises.

Is it not ironical that we should be providing money for new employment exchange buildings instead of providing money for jobs which will give work to the unemployed? Is the hon. Member aware that since the General Election unemployment has soared so high that we have now the second largest rate of unemployment on the mainland of Scotland? Would he not be more usefully occupied in persuading his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to get cracking on providing more jobs for the unemployed?

Both are necessary. The hon. Member will realise that employment services, retraining, and finding job opportunities for people are continuing needs, high unemployment or not. We are doing everything we can to reduce the high rate of unemployment, and the Government's new measures will help considerably.

Is the hon. Member aware that the construction of employment exchanges is now virtually Scotland's only remaining growth industry, and that at some employment exchanges there are now 200 men looking for each vacancy? Will not he persuade his Department to get its finger out and do something about it? If the decision goes wrong at Upper Clyde today, is the hon. Member aware that men are saying that enough is enough, and that they will fight in the yards? Will he make his right hon. Friend aware of the situation?

The hon. Member takes an absurdly gloomy view of the future situation, when new expansionary measures are being introduced. As for the Upper Clyde situation, my right hon. Friend will be making a statement later today.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many grants have been paid to employers for the training of newly recruited workers over 45 years of age, in intermediate and development areas since the introduction of the scheme.

Up to June, 1971, 628 applications had been received, and grants to employers in respect of 208 workers have been paid to date.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that answer. Does he appreciate—I am sure that the House does—that this scheme is valuable in encouraging employers to take on older workers? As this will become an increasing problem in our society, will my hon. Friend take steps to expand the scheme—and certainly the publicity given to it?

I agree with my hon. Friend about the value of the scheme. This is one of the several schemes brought in by my right hon. Friend to help train unemployed persons. It deals with the narrow category of men and women over 45 years of age who have been unemployed for two months. The objective is to persuade employers to give preference to this difficult category. I agree that we must step up our publicity. Already we have issued explanatory leaflets to all employers and had publicity through the Press and local radio stations. I agree that the scheme needs the maximum publicity.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that hon. Members on this side of the House strongly support the scheme and its expansion? Will he explain, however, what is the use of training people in an area like the North-West, where unemployment has soared to frightening levels and is even catching up with the levels in the most depressed regions and, by the end of the year, is likely to overtake them? Is he aware that if we are to have training it must go hand-in-hand with a policy to expand job opportunities?

I do not agree with the hon. Member's view that there is little point in training people at times of high unemployment. If a man is unemployed it is far better for him to receive training, because he gets far more satisfaction in increasing his skills, even if a job is not immediately available.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will make a statement on the trend in the employment situation during the past year for school leavers and young people in the Portsmouth area, with particular reference to the number of job vacancies as compared to the number of job applicants.

On 12th July, 1971, there were 112 young people, including 22 school leavers, registered as unemployed, and 264 unfilled notified vacancies. In July, 1970, the comparative figures were 109, including seven school leavers unemployed and 482 unfilled vacancies.

No one suggests that the employment problems in the South-East Region are anything like as agonising as those in other parts of the country, but is not the hon. Gentleman aware that there is severe concern among those responsible for the youth employment services in the South-East—especially in places like Portsmouth—about the types of job available and the types of young people needing jobs? Can he assure the House that he realises that this problem affects the whole country and is so serious that it demands radical action by himself and his colleagues in the Government?

It is serious, and action is being taken, as my right hon. Friend has reminded the House. But in the hon. Member's area we do not expect that the rate of absorption—although it is rather slow—will present too great a difficulty; in fact, most school leavers will have found employment by the end of the year. I am encouraged to learn that apprentice recruiting in the naval dockyard is at a higher level now than it was last year.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will extend the system of occupational analysis to show the industries in which wholly unemployed persons registered for employment in labouring occupations last worked.

No, Sir. To do so would be too expensive in relation to the use such information would be for placing purposes.

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the definition of "labouring occupation" is so wide that more than half of those registered as fully unemployed at the moment are covered by it? Does he further agree that it is necessary to have a more precise occupational analysis to determine what sort of training or what type of new industry is needed to reduce unemployment in the many areas of high unemployment?

I appreciate the hon. Member's concern. We believe that a detailed analysis of this kind is useful in the construction industry, but in many other industries there is a fair amount of movement of workers between industries, and our reckoning is that it would not be of special value in finding job opportunities.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will seek discussions with the Confederation of British Industry and the Trades Union Congress in an effort to increase the number of apprenticeships available for young people.

It is the industrial training boards on which employers and trade unions are jointly represented who are primarily responsible for the volume of apprenticeship training. I have asked all the boards to review the situation in their industries and to consider any special steps that might need to be taken. I have also asked the C.B.I. to do what it can to persuade companies not to cut back the recruitment and training of school leavers.

In view of the seriousness of the matter, should not the right hon. Gentleman be doing something more than asking what is being done by the C.B.I.? Should he not be asking for urgent meetings at which this matter could be discussed? If he does not receive the amount of success that he would like in extending apprenticeships, does he not agree we should seek from the Government a greater willingness to spend money on and to extend training centres for apprenticeships throught the country?

On the last part of the hon. Member's supplementary question, he may have failed to notice that only last week I announced a major expansion of measures, including financial measures, to encourage Government training schemes. I can assure him and the House that I am not merely asking the I.T.B.s and the C.B.I. for advice; I am asking them to do things.

Does not my right hon. Friend agree that the way to increase apprenticeship opportunities is to remain competitive, price-wise, in the export market? Has he had any reaction from the T.U.C. in answer to the initiative taken by the C.B.I. in the cause of price stabilisation?

I told the House in the economic debate last week that we are looking forward to continuing discussions with the National Economic Development Council next week—discussions begun last month—and I hope that they will be constructive.

Will the right hon. Gentleman carry out an investigation into the employment situation in terms of school-leavers? In spite of his urgings, large companies are cutting back on apprentices and in some cases cutting out apprenticeship schemes altogether.

That is why I am not only making a general appeal to companies— and I have Birmingham in mind—but am asking industrial training boards to consider what should be done in each of their industries. I shall be keeping in close touch with them and supporting them in any action that they propose to take.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the latest figure for young people leaving school and registering as unemployed in the borough of Derby.

At 12th July the provisional number of school leavers registered at the Derby Careers Office was 61.

Is the Minister aware that the number of juveniles unemployed in the Derby area has increased significantly over the last year, and what possible message of hope has he for the young people in my constituency who are coming on to the labour market at a time when unemployment has increased by 65 per cent. in the last year and when the only sign of the Government's dynamic economic policy has been the arrival of the receiver on the doorstep?

The message of hope I have for the hon. Member's constituents is that the careers officers locally are not unduly worried about the position there. [HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."] A preliminary assessment of the school leaver position suggests that some 2,000 school leavers will be on the market and that about 300 of them will not have jobs, but it is hoped that by the end of September there will be only 150 of them who will still be a problem. I do not think that that is too bad.

Is the Minister aware that the concern of my two hon. Friends, the hon. Members for Portsmouth, West (Mr. Judd) and Derby, North (Mr. Whitehead) in asking Questions 15 and 19 is justified, and that the figures he has given starkly reveal the vivid comparison between different areas, and is he further aware that the situation which exists in the Northern Region, in my constituency and every other, now demands a great deal more urgent action?

Yes, I am aware, of course, that there are discrepancies between areas, and that is a point to which my right hon. Friend has drawn attention in Answers to Questions today, and why we have taken action to expand training, and why the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for the Environment have announced new measures which will expand the economy and improve the employment situation.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what were the grants given to apprenticeship training centres in Lanarkshire in 1969, 1970 and 1971; and if he will make a statement.

Grants to such centres in Lanarkshire (excluding the City and County of Glasgow) amounted to £64,771 in 1969 and £276,091 in 1970. It is not possible to give a meaningful figure for this year as claims are not normally paid until late in the year.

Will the hon. Gentleman not agree that there is a distinct possibility that, taking the present trend, the 1971 figure will show a decrease, and that in Lanarkshire, with the school leaving period of the summer time, 8,000 young people left school of whom 6,000 have not found jobs and 2,000 are taking further education? Is he further aware that because we do not have employment for craftsmen there is no need for apprentices and that consequently, unless something helpful is forthcoming, there will be a very serious position indeed for the people of Lanarkshire?

The unemployment position is very serious, but it is certainly correct to continue to maintain apprentice training, and that is what we are trying to do. The hon. Gentleman will have heard the general remarks made by my right hon. Friend to the hon. Member for Wandsworth, Central (Mr. Thomas Cox). With regard to special measures being taken, the engineering industry training board is proposing to increase its grant for the first year for off-job training for craftsmen from £500 to £600 this year. The construction industry training board is increasing its grant as well by 50 per cent.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he is satisfied with the services available at Sheffield Employment Exchange to workers seeking employment in Germany; and if he will make a statement.

Yes, Sir. Applications received by the Exchange from such workers will be considered against vacancies in Germany under arrangements agreed between my Department and the Federal Institute of Labour which are now coming into operation.

If the Sheffield workers in Germany are not to suffer indignities and discrimination as Gastarbeïter, exploited by unscrupulous Landlords and paying taxes while not aware that they are entitled to social benefits, does not the Minister think that he ought to make available at Sheffield Employment Exchange appropriate literature, and consider the appointment of a liaison officer in Germany?

I agree. That is why officials of my Department have recently had discussions on the spot in Germany. I can tell the hon. Member that leaflets will be issued giving full information of conditions of employment, and they will be issued at employment exchanges in Sheffield and elsewhere in the country. Also a standard form of contract will be issued for German employers of British workers.

Is it not regrettable that 17,000 British skilled engineering workers have been compelled by conditions in the United Kingdom to seek employment in Germany? Is not this a further indictment of Government policies which have created this lamentably high level of unemployment which means they cannot find jobs in their home towns?

No. It is not an indictment of Government policy because this has not suddenly happened overnight but has been going on for some 15 years. When there is a temporary difficulty here about unemployment and an acute labour shortage in Germany, such movements of labour do nothing but provide mutual benefit.

Is the hon. Gentleman not aware that there is now a steadily increasing flow of skilled workers from: the Tyneside area, and is this not clear evidence of the dismal failure of the Government's regional policies?

No. I do not accept that. There are a number of skilled workers who are still going, and that fact is not confined to one region. I do not think this will denude this country of our skilled workers.