Deputy Speaker, the framework for South Africa's response to the international economic crisis was concluded between government, organised business, the labour movement and community representatives in February 2009.
One of the measures in this framework was provision for a training lay-off scheme. During the second half of last year, we sat down with our social partners, concluded a set of rules that should apply to the training lay- off scheme, identified where we could get money for the scheme and announced it publicly.
The scheme provides for up to half of the wage of a worker to be paid, during periods they otherwise would have been retrenched or placed on short time. Instead, through this fund they can be trained. It was piloted in the last three months of last year and we officially launched it in January this year.
No comprehensive analysis has been made of the total jobs impact of the framework agreement as a whole, given that the measures vary from counter cyclical fiscal policies, support for the infrastructure development programme, to specified industrial and trade interventions.
Perhaps, I can illustrate the impact of the framework by reference to specific employment and industrial initiatives. The training lay-off scheme, for example, was reported to have saved 6 375 jobs up to the end of September this year. The smallest company covered by the scheme had ten workers and the largest company had 1 500 workers. In addition to that, we set up a fund for distressed companies, administered by the Industrial Development Company, IDC, that saved or created the further 18 073 jobs. The IDC and the Unemployment Insurance Fund, UIF, also launched a development bond aimed at job creation and an additional 19 031 jobs, excluding companies that were on any other scheme, were saved or created through this.
In addition to this, the CCMA itself strengthened its efforts to save its jobs through better facilitation and mediation in cases where companies used section 189 of the Labour Relations Act. The CCMA has reported to us that between October last year and the end of September this year, 8 350 additional jobs were saved in large-scale retrenchment processes. This excludes all the other numbers that I have given. It's not people who are on training lay-offs or any of the other schemes.
We have also launched an effort to combat illegal imports and customs fraud, and Sars seized 750 tons of goods by December last year in one sector alone, which translates to the number of 1 400 jobs saved. The Expanded Public Works Programme of government that the Minister of Public Works previously reported on gives an indication of the kinds of measures that are in place and the impact that it has. Thank you.