EARL ST. ALDWYNMy Lords, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Employment is making a Statement in another place on industrial training. It has been agreed, through the usual channels, that it would be for the convenience of the House if this were not repeated here but were circulated in the OFFICIAL REPORT, which, with the leave of the House, I will arrange to have done.
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Following is the Statement referred to:
I have published today a document entitled Training for the Future: A Plan for Discussion. This sets out the Government's plans for implementing its commitments to expand the facilities for retraining together with the results of my promised review of the work of the Industrial Training Boards.
The Government has decided to introduce a Training Opportunities Scheme which will bring in a massive expansion of Government sponsored training for individual men and women. In 1970 the number of people receiving training of this kind was less than 17,000. Training for the Future announces that this will be raised to 100,000 a year as quickly as possible and as a first step to at least 60–70,000 by 1975. I recognise that to achieve this expansion we shall need determined action to provide the necessary facilities and also to inform people of the new scale of opportunities open to them and of the benefits of taking advantage of the new scheme.
Training for the Future also reports the conclusions of the review of the work of the
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Industrial Training Boards. The Boards have great achievements to their credit in changing the attitudes of industry to training and in raising the standard of training generally. We need to build on what has been achieved but we must also recognise and acknowledge the defects in the system and seek to remove them.
For this purpose it is proposed that while compulsory levy/grant should be phased out after 1973, the Industrial Training Boards should in general be retained in order to concentrate on the development of their work in the identification of particular training needs of their industries, the setting of standards and on the provision of advisory services. This proposal is in line with the direction already being taken by a number of the Boards.
It is further proposed to establish an agency to co-ordinate the work of the Boards and to fill the gaps in the present system. This agency would be given funds of the order of £25–40 million a year to provide advisory services and grants in order to stimulate key training to meet national needs—for example, training to meet the shortfall in the apprentice intake last summer and to provide any support which may be necessary for activities such as group training schemes and off-the-job training of apprentices and technicians.
Since it will he necessary to unify responsibility if we are to achieve as quickly as possible the 100,000 target on Government sponsored training and since the training plans and programmes of employers and Government also need to be looked at as a whole and closely co-ordinated, it seems sensible to make the agency responsible for both sectors. It is therefore proposed to establish a National Training Agency which will he hived off from my Department.
I should like to make clear the status of this document. The expansion of Government sponsored training which the document announces represents a firm decision with which the Government is proceeding urgently. The proposals relating to the future role of the Training Boards and the establishment of a single National Training Agency are, however, for consultation on the widest basis.
The Government intends to introduce such legislation as may be necessary to implement these proposals in the next Session of Parliament. The document therefore asks all those who wish to comment to do so not later than the end of May so that this timetable can be kept.
We believe that the programme contained in this document will ensure the supply of trained manpower which is vital if this country is to achieve sustained economic growth—growth that is of particular importance both in terms of regional policy and of our forthcoming entry into Europe. Training has a strong social purpose, too, for it gives people a chance to improve their economic prospects and to achieve greater satisfaction as they progress through their working lives.