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‘Anybody who throws his girlfriend into the closet and sets it on fire can‘t be all bad.‘
Director Oliver Stone reveals what it was aboutlim Morrison that inspired him to make biopic The Doors.
‘It was a good result, but I wish the wife hadn‘t worn her Oxfam dress. It almost spoilt the day.‘
Brian Clough shows his
do wn-to-earth attitude to British football. after his team won 4-0 in the FA Cup.
‘Two entries on Nancy Reagan‘s birth certificate are accurate — her sex and her color.‘
The opening lines of Kitty Kelley 's unauthorised biography of the ex-First Lady — and it's downhillfrom there.
‘If they ask for 100 strokes they get 100, even if they beg for mercy in the middle. because ifl stop it might spoil their fantasy.‘
Parliamentary candidate for the Corrective Party, Lindi St Clair - Miss Whiplash to her friends — gives a new interpretation to the post of Chief Whip.
‘Lots of people say they wish I‘d behave more like Delia Smith.‘ Keith Floyd bemoans the fact that some viewers prefer their TV dinners with less alcohol.
‘I‘ve no intention ofever leaving this place. I see my short-term and long-term future here.‘
Graeme Souness last October on his love of lbrox Park.
L-.. . _ 4The List 19 April — 2 May 1991
e used to have between fifteen and twenty trainees on Employment Training,‘ says Wilma Nelson, supervisor at the Liberton and Area Handicapped Association. ‘On 12th March we were told that the trainees and the supervisor were being withdrawn on the 5 28th — so it left us high and dry. It has left us effectively with no staff.’
2 The loss of all of the Edinburgh-based
i, handicapped club’s trainees is a direct
i consequence of the merging ofthe Scottish
l Development Agency and the Training Agency,
l and the subsequent formation on 2 April of
Scottish Enterprise and its thirteen subsidiaries,
the Local Enterprise Companies (LECs). These
private companies are mandated by Parliament to
improve the training skills of the Scottish workforce and to promote the interests of
1 Scotland in a business environment. Each LEC has responsibility for the Employment Training, Youth Training and Enterprise Allowance
. schemes in its area, but lack ofsufficient funding from the Scottish Office has forced each LEC board to cut its training budget significantly. The
. effect on Liberton and Area Handicapped Association has been devastating.
‘I think it’s an absolute scandal that these training places have to go,‘ says Nigel Griffiths, Labour MP for Edinburgh South, in whose constituency the club is situated. ‘It provides 120 adults and 28 children every week with recreation and training facilities in a purpose-built centre. The irony is they’ve got the funds for running the centre and for paying for the activities, but they can’t replace the ET-funded staff. There are over 3000 special training places with Scottish charities, but the Scottish Office and the Government are only supporting projects which have money-earning skills. I believe that is a selfish and short-sighted policy.‘
Fortunately the Liberton club looks likely to be saved by money from the Social Work Department of Lothian Regional Council, but many believe that caring groups across the country are being targeted. Norrie Smith, Head of Training Operations for Lothians and Edinburgh Enterprise Ltd, blames the loss of training places directly on inadequate funding,
Laying off the unemployed
The creation of Scottish Enterprise has threatened thousands of young Scots on Youth and Employment Training schemes with a return to the dole. Alan Morrison examines the latest developments for the training of Scotland’s workforce.
but believes that the level ofprovision for disabled people is sufficient within the context of limited numbers of places generally.
‘We have calculated that something like 6 per cent ofthe available ET places within Lothian are going to be set aside for people with disabilities. The Department of Employment quota expects employers to employ 3 per cent of their workforce who are disabled people, so in that respect we think that the level of provision that we have made for people with special training needs is as much as can be reasonably expected and afforded within the substantially reduced budgets that we havef
When pressed on the wider role he sees for the new LEC, Smith explains that the company will concentrate on drawing up contracts with organisations who can provide training opportunities in growth sectors ofthe labour market. ‘These growth sectors we are talking about are tourism, electronics, the finance sector. So that is where we are trying to move training provision because clearly people will have a better chance ofgetting a job at the end ofit. ’
This more commercial emphasis on Employment Training, and the consequent cutback on support for other activities, is not restricted to the Lothians area. A statement issued by Willie Fortucci, Director ofTraining and Personnel with Glasgow Development Agency calls the company‘s provision of over 13,000 training places throughout the year ‘substantial‘, but does admit that the city will lose 500 Youth Training and 600 Adult Training places in 1991/92 compared to the previous year.
Also affected by cuts in the LECs’ budgets is the Enterprise Allowance Scheme, designed to give financial support and conselling to new small businesses. As private companies, each LEC could in theory come up with a different set of requirements and payments for participants in its area, but at the moment the £40 a week allowance is continuing as before, with more flexibility in terms ofeligibility. Applicants need now only be unemployed and in receipt of benefit for six rather than eight weeks.
The idea of spreading the LECs’ budgets over as
; many people as possible worries Nigel Giffiths: ' ‘What we’re going to see is that those people who
do get training places are going to get less spent on them and a poorer quality oftraining. I believe that the public are now very alert to the Government tactics of trying to squeeze a quart out ofa pint pot.
‘We are spending less on training in this country than in any other advanced country. We are becoming the lowest-skilled workforce in Europe, the least educated, the least trained, and instead of the Government putting more money into training, they’re actually cutting this budget. In any other field this would be a criminal attack on a vital institution.’
Volunteers and supporters of the Liberton and Area Handicapped Association can contact Wilma Nelson at26 Gracemount Drive, Edinburgh (03] 664 7424).
l