HC Deb 13 April 1976 vol 909 cc1118-9
1. Mr. Sainsbury

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will consider instituting a review of the work of the industrial training boards.

The Under-Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. Harold Walker)

I am advised by the Manpower Services Commission that they see no immediate need to institute a review of the work of the industrial training boards.

Mr. Sainsbury

Does the Minister accept that there is widespread doubt about the validity of some of these boards' training work? In view of the size of the administrative costs—more than £6½ million in the last year for which we have records—will he ask the Training Services Agency to review urgently the question whether the boards provide the best value in the important area of training?

Mr. Walker

I do not agree that there are widespread doubts. I think there is a recognition that the boards have made a significant contribution to the quality and quantity of industrial training since the inception following the 1964 Act.

Mr. Michael Marshall

Does the Minister accept that there is an urgent need to look into the activities of the Engineering Industry Training Board, under the chairmanship of Mr. Hugh Scanlon, which has recently arbitrarily dismissed members and abolished the Foundry Industry Training Committee, under circumstances that require urgent investigation?

Mr. Walker

I pay tribute to the enthusiasm and vigour Mr. Scanlon has brought to the work of the Board. He has made and is making an outstanding contribution. Press reports that the hon. Member may have read this morning have been most misleading. There has been a long-standing difficulty between the Committee and the Board with problems about scope and constitution and the Committee's desire to be reconstituted as a training board in its own right. These are matters which are not necessarily linked to the chairmanship of the Board and they are being inquired into by the Manpower Services Commission.

Mr. Michael Latham

Must it not remain a basic principle of levy grants that the cost of training is shared throughout the industry and not paid just by those who do training?

Mr. Walker

The hon. Member takes a keen interest in these matters. If he has not read the recent consultative document published by the Training Services Agency on vocational preparation, I urge him to do so. It has some radical proposals in respect of levy grants, and the matter is under review.

Mr. Ernest G. Perry

Will my hon. Friend realise that the Opposition, in their attempts to denigrate the boards, are trying to make them seem less worth while than they really are? Does he recognise that people moving from one sphere of employment to another require these boards, and that I hope he will continue the programme?

Mr. Walker

My hon. Friend will know that the boards are primarily concerned with training rather than retraining. The criticisms that we have heard today are not widely reflected, even on the Benches opposite. I am sure the Opposition Front Bench would be ready to pay tribute to the valuable work done by the boards.