§ 12. Mr. Gwilym Robertsasked the Minister of Labour how many applications for entry into industrial retraining were refused in the year ended September 1967 due to the non-availability of places; and what plan he had for increasing the number of places available.
§ Mr. HattersleyNone. But some applicants have had to wait a long time for admission to Government training centres. The waiting time will be considerably reduced by the 10 new centres and over 4,000 additional training places which will become available between now and early 1970. Four—Beilshill (North Lanarkshire), Maryport (Cumberland), Port Talbot and Runcorn—are expected to open in 1968; the remaining six—at Darlington, near Durham, in North Staffordshire, near Wakeneid, in West London and at Wrexham—by early 1970.
§ Mr. RobertsWhile the whole House welcomes this information, would not my hon. Friend agree that, since retraining is a vital factor in technological change, if British industry is to have the degree of skill required to maintain its position in world markets, we must go even further and somehow or other treble the number of retraining places between now and 1970?
§ Mr. HattersleyI agree that there has to be a renewed expansion of industrial training. But I think my hon. Friend is wrong if he implies that all this renewal should and must come from Government training centres. Much of it must and will be done by industry through encouragement by the industrial training boards.