HC Deb 26 February 1991 vol 186 cc787-8
11. Mr. Roy Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he has made any recent comparison of facilities available and the percentage of people trained in the United Kingdom and in Germany and France.

Mr. Howard

I visited France last month, and Germany last year, to look at their training arrangements. Despite the differences in approach, which make accurate statistical comparisons difficult, I found general agreement that successful competition in the 1990s will depend on employers' improving significantly the level of skill in their labour force.

Mr. Hughes

Does the Secretary of State recognise that Britain has an annual trading deficit of £15 billion to £16 billion and that many shrewd economic observers put this down to poor training facilities and the lack of skilled people? In these circumstances, and despite the sweetener that he has handed out today, is it not the economics of the lunatic asylum to contemplate the provision of £500 million for training over the next two years?

Mr. Howard

If the hon. Gentleman is so concerned about the funding of our training programme, I am surprised that he did not welcome the very substantial additional funds that I announced today. We have in place the right training framework to ensure that our people will have the skills they need to compete effectively in the markets of the 1990s, and there is abundant evidence that our policies are working extremely effectively.

Mr. Butterfill

Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that even more facilities for employment training would be required if we were to adopt the Labour party's policies and introduce statutory minimum wages and impose restrictions on part-time workers?

Mr. Howard

My hon. Friend is, of course, entirely right. The policies of the Labour party would lead to a very substantial loss of jobs. Labour Members show no recognition of the fact that there is no point in talking about training if one is not prepared to have adequate differentials to reward those who acquire the skills that training makes possible.