As regards the recommendation that section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966 should be ame
ed to cover refugees who are not from the Commonwealth, I regret that I can offer early prospect of legislation.
Training for employment
The report sets out clearly how ill-equipped the Vietnamese are for employment in this country and how high their level of unemployment. We are, however, making a determined effort to tackle these problems. Though I hope that the possibilities for self-employment will be explored, probably the best hope for the Vietnamese in finding employment is through the various Manpower Services Commission programmes.
The main contribution of the Commission's Training Division is the development under its Training Opportunities Schemes (TOPS) of English as a Second Language training for ethnic minorities. These courses are of course open to the Vietnamese; in fact two of the rules that normally apply to TOPS applicants that they should be aged 19 or over on commencing a TOPS course and that, in order to do so, they must have been away from full-time education for at least two years, have been relaxed so that refugees can become eligible for TOPS courses as soon as they arrive in this country. I understand that certain areas such as the North East, South West, and Yorkshire and Humberside, have set up courses to cater specifically for the language training needs of concentrations of Vietnamese refugees located within their boundaries. The report recognises that because of the wide dispersal of the Vietnamese some problems have arisen on recruitment for training courses. The Training Divison have, therefore, agreed to set up a pilot work-related skills-linked language course purely for Vietnamese which is intended to overcome this problem by recruiting people from more than one area. A meeting between representatives of the MSC, the British Refugee Council and Ockenden Venture was, I understand, held in November to discuss arrangement: for this and it has now been decided that the South West Region should be responsible for administering such a course and it is hoped that the first will begin in May 1983.
Employment
I understand that as a matter of priority the Commission is also reviewing its current policy and guidance to local offices on the help to be given in settling refugees into suitable employment. Particular attention will be given to the Vietnamese whose progress in finding employment the local offices monitor and report on regularly.
The Commission will also continue to encourage the Vietnamese to participate in those programmes designed to enhance their acceptability to employers, such as the Community Programme. In addition, there are continuing developments offering special help for long-term unemployed people and the Commission will be examining ways in which such help can best be targeted at specific groups such as the Vietnamese.
Family Reunion
While I appreciate the disappointment felt by many Vietnamese over the criteria for family reunion applications and have looked at this question very closely, I regret that, given our other commitments in the refugee and general immigration field, I cannot agree to any further special concessions to the Vietnamese.
We will, of course, continue to allow the spouse and minor children of refugees already here to join them and to look as sympathetically as possible at applications from other relatives. And I am happy to confirm my Department's recent exceptional agreement in the majority of cases for whom the Joint Committee supported the admission of relatives and siblings of unaccompanied minors.
I understand, too, the concern that such a small percentage of people in Vietnam who have been granted entry visas to the United Kingdom have been permitted exit visas by
/the Vietnamese