HC Deb 20 December 1965 vol 722 c361W
64. Sir Harmar Nicholls

asked the Minister of Labour, in order to assist in the training and retraining of adults, and to enable people irrespective of age to achieve skilled status, if he will request the Engineering Industry Training Board to institute practical and theoretical examination as a mark of achieving such status so as to replace the present limitations of the apprenticeship system where a person is alleged to become skilled by virtue of his service and without respect to his practical abilities.

Mr. Thornton

I shall expect the Engineering Industry Training Board, and other training boards, to establish standards of training, and to provide means of assessing whether those standards have been reached. The Engineering Board has already been giving consideration to this question.