§ 1. Mr. Moyleasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will set up a working party of accountants, economists and educationists with a view to recommending a standard system for validating training costs for all industrial training boards.
§ The Minister of State, Department of Employment (Mr. Paul Bryan)My right hon. Friend would not wish to consider action of this kind before he has completed his review of industrial training.
§ Mr. MoyleDoes not the hon. Gentleman agree that in the absence of central guidance there is a temptation to chief accountants to load all sorts of odd costs on to the industrial training side of their firms? Would not central guidance from 1476 the Department tend to make possible a more sensible approach to the problem?
§ Mr. BryanBoards were given advice in 1966 about a common approach to determining training costs. It was a very expert working party that advised them then. Standard systems have their limitations in this context because the requirements of each board vary very much.
§ Mr. Kenneth LewisDoes my hon. Friend accept that there would be one justification for an increase in Government training costs, and that is if he would consider subventing the training of apprentices for their first year so that the young people in the pipeline who cannot get into apprenticeships could be given a first year training with Government financial support?
§ Mr. BryanA great deal is being done by the Government to increase apprentice training. For instance, those whose training is liable to be checked owing to the unemployment situation are being helped by the training boards, in particular the Engineering Industry Training Board, and the Government are paying half the cost.