Training and Enterprise Councils (Hansard, 18 November 1997)

§ The Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment (Baroness Blackstone)
My Lords, we greatly value the important work TECs are doing at the local level to raise skill levels and foster enterprise. We recognise the benefit to local partnerships of a strong private sector contribution. There are therefore no plans to make fundamental changes to the structure and functions of TECs. We do, however, see scope for TECs to improve their performance, and a range of work is in hand to raise the performance of all TECs towards the level of the best. For example, I point to the work being done jointly with the TEC National Council to encourage TECs to benchmark themselves against each other and other organisations and to share good practice effectively.

§ Lord Dormand of Easington
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that valuable and comprehensive reply. Does she accept that there is a considerable variation throughout the country in the effectiveness of training enterprise councils? I recognise what she just said, but does she agree that much still needs to be done with local accountability and improvement in local partnerships? Does she further agree that an important method of raising standards is to have training inspection of individual providers? That is extremely important. Is anything being done in that respect?

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for raising these different issues in relation to TECs. It is true that performance varies significantly among TECs across the country. That is why, in partnership with the TEC movement, we are taking forward a range of measures to try to improve performance.
My noble friend asked about ensuring that TECs are more locally accountable. He is right in suggesting that TECs must account effectively to their local communities. The TEC movement is conscious that it needs to do more in that area. This week the TEC 464 National Council is launching a revised framework for the local accountability of TECs which responds to recommendations made by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Nolan.
In response to my noble friend's third question, on inspection, we have launched a training and standards council to be responsible for a new external inspection procedure for TECs which will be in operation by next April.

§ Lord McCarthy
My Lords, will the Minister tell the House whether her reply means that the Government have moved away from the general position adopted by the Labour Party when in Opposition; namely, that they supported in general the report of the all-party Employment Committee in another place on the work of TECs, which suggested a number of not necessarily fundamental, but significant, changes in the structure and functions of TECs? Are we going back on that position?

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, we are introducing a number of changes of the kind that I just described. At the same time, however, we recognise the valuable work that is done by TECs. There are over 1,000 people round the country who voluntarily give up time to support the work of TECs. They deliver an important part of our employment training. That does not mean that there is not room for improvement in a variety of different respects. I believe that the TEC National Council recognises that it needs to do more to make sure that the performance of less high-performing TECs is raised to that of the very best.

Baroness Young
My Lords, would the noble Baroness be good enough to set out slightly more clearly what exactly are the Government's proposals? I listened with interest to her original Answer, which I welcomed; however, her reply to the noble Lord, Lord McCarthy, seemed to suggest something very different. The track record of TECs has, on the whole, been a good one. Perhaps the Minister might comment on the number of people they have trained who have subsequently found employment.

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, the Government are well aware of the very large numbers of people who have been trained through TECs and the partnerships that they have with local deliverers of training, including FE colleges, in their own areas. That does not, however, mean that there are not matters that need to be examined. For example, some TECs have very large reserves. The Government believe that it would make sense if better use were made of those reserves. We are encouraging TECs to look afresh at how they might use their resources to make sure that they are focused effectively on the Government's priorities. Just one example is that we expect the TECs to make a significant contribution to kick-starting individual learning accounts. We also believe that in the area of equal opportunities the TECs might improve on their current performance. We need, for example, to improve 465 greatly on the numbers of girls who are being trained through TEC schemes through different kinds of employment training.

§ Lord Rochester
My Lords, because the funding of TECs is largely related to output in terms of job placements and qualifications, does the noble Baroness think there is a danger of training providers taking on too many applicants who are well placed to achieve those outcomes, at the expense of those who are most in need of help?

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, if one has output measures for organisations such as TECs, it is very important to ensure that they do not distort the operation of the TECs, so that they become more concerned about meeting particular output targets at the expense of quality. Again, the Government are examining the matter with regard to the kind of performance measures that we ought to be using in trying to monitor the ways in which TECs operate.

§ Lord Wade of Chorlton
My Lords, will the Minister explain what the Government expect to be the relationship between the TECs and the new regional development agencies that are now proposed, and how they will work together to stimulate the economies of the various regions?

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, the original development agencies will play a very important role in relation to regional economic development. The TECs on the other hand, of which there are 73—far more than there will be regional development agencies—will continue to play a very important role locally in trying to secure and deliver good quality training. Obviously the TECs will need to have a relationship with the regional development agencies. We shall expect them to work together to examine difficult problems such as skill shortages and how they should be addressed.

§ Lord Mackie of Benshie
My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that all the questions have been on training? Is she entirely happy that enterprise is not being neglected for training; and do the two really fit together as well as they should?

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, enterprise and training do fit very closely together. We shall not achieve the kind of enterprise that our nation and our economy need unless we have well trained people. It is through the training not merely of young people but also adults, including training in entrepreneurial skills, that we shall achieve the sort of enterprise that I am sure the noble Lord wants to see.

§ Lord Dormand of Easington
My Lords, is my noble friend satisfied with the eligibility criteria of TEC board members? Is she aware that, over the seven years during which the TECs have been in existence, there has been quite a lot of criticism about some of the appointments that have been made?

§ Baroness Blackstone
Yes, my Lords, I am aware that there has been criticism of some appointments to 466 TEC boards. Again, it is extremely important that the TEC National Council ensures that people of the highest quality, drawn from a wide range of different backgrounds, serve on TEC boards, so that we can deliver the quality of training that we need.