§ Mr. Gwilym Robertsasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many young people within the scope of the Distributive Industry Training Board are currently attending part-time day release classes; what are the comparable figures for the past three years; what is the number of courses for qualifications in the distributive trades at present being offered in local authority colleges; and what proposals he has for increasing this number.
§ Mr. FowlerIn 1968–69, the latest year for which figures are available, 10,227 young people under 18 attended part-time day release courses relevant to the distributive industry. This represents 3–4 per cent. of the total number of young people employed in the industry. Corresponding figures for the three previous years were:
- 1967–68–10,291–3.3 per cent.
- 1966–67–10,857–3.2 per cent.
- 1965–66–12,048–3.4 per cent.
In 1968–69 a total of 662 courses leading to 52 different qualifications of relevance to the distributive industry were provided in local authority colleges. I anticipate that the growing activities of the Dis- 178W tributive Industry Training Board in the field of training and associated further education will lead to a significant increase in the number of young people in the industry being released for courses of further education.