§ 15. Mr. Ellisasked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity how many Government training centres and training places there were in each year since 1964; and how many are planned in the next two years.
§ Mr. EllisDoes my hon. Friend accept that the Government deserve a great deal of credit for the great increase which these figures will show? Will he tell the House whether he has initiated any studies with existing places as to the usefulness of the work being done there and whether they are meeting the needs of people we are keen to serve in this business of retraining?
§ Mr. DellI entirely agree with my hon. Friend that the increase in the number of training places since November, 1964, which has more than trebled them, has been a factor of fundamental importance and a considerable achievement. The usefulness of training places is shown by the fact that people trained at Government training centres normally achieve useful employment very shortly afterwards.
§ Following is the information:
| Number of Government Training Centres | Training Places | |
| November, 1964 | 26 | 4,078 |
| November, 1965 | 30 | 5,595 |
| November, 1966 | 32 | 6,421 |
| November, 1967 | 38 | 7,775 |
| November, 1968 | 40 | 8,863 |
| November, 1969 | 43 | 9,609 |
| November, 1971 (estimated on the basis of present plans) | 54 | nearly 13,000 |