Six in ten unemployed people on a Government-sponsored scheme to help them secure jobs were still out of work 13 weeks after finishing, the Training and Enterprise Council revealed this week.
But the Department for Education and Employment, which invests about Pounds 1.2 billion in TEC-run youth and adult training programmes, is upbeat about its Training for Work programme.
Last year fewer than three in ten people across England and Wales found work. TECs minister James Paice said the new figures for the 74 English TECs was "an important improvement".
The top job-hunting TEC in England during 1995/96 was Southern Derbyshire, which managed to secure jobs for seven in ten people completing Training for Work courses. Other top performers include Cumbria TEC and Sandwell TEC. Essex TEC, which once languished at the bottom of the league tables, saw more than half its Training for Work class move into jobs.
Surrey TEC only managed to find jobs for 30 per cent, which puts it among the bottom ten TECs. Yet its success in guiding people through vocational qualifications was second to none, with three quarters obtaining an NVQ - well above the 39 per cent national average.
The Youth Training Scheme, also run by TECs, showed steady improvement. More than half of those enrolled on courses completed NVQs. The top TEC was East Lancashire, which scored an impressive 78.8 per cent pass rate. Merseyside TEC was bottom with only 36.4 per cent finishing NVQs.
Despite this regional variation, Chris Humphries, director of the TEC National Council, said: "There is now a greater convergence between the top and bottom TECs, and this shows we are better at spreading best practice." But he warned that the drive towards national targets will never completely overcome regional differences. "We will never reach the point where everyone is equal," he said.
The seven Welsh TECs enjoyed greater success in running the Training for Work scheme. Around 55 per cent of unemployed adults moved on to a job, with more than 40 per cent leaving with NVQs. But the Welsh TEC Youth Training schemes were less successful. Just 47 per cent secured an NVQ.
Top ten TEC (youth training)
YT NVQs per 100 leavers (1) ELTEC (East Lancashire) 78.81 (2) North London 78.28 (3) Suffolk 74.53 (4) Milton Keynes & N. Bucks 72.74 (5) Cumbria 72.09 (6) Birmingham 71.46 (7) CENTEC 71.05 (8) Northumberland 67.61 (9) Calderdale & Kirklees 64.42 (10) CILNTEC (City and Inner London) 62.23 Top ten TECs (training for work)
TFW NVQs per 100 leavers (1) Surrey 75.19 (2) Milton Keynes & N. Bucks 71.29 (3) Heart of England 68. (4) North London 64.90 (5) Devon & Cornwall 64.52 (6) Cambs TEC 63.76 (7) Norfolk & Waveney 60.76 (8) Northamptonshire CCTE 51.48 (9) Northumberland 51.14 (10) Hertfordshire 50.49