§ Mr. Parkasked the Secretary of State for Employment what response he has made to the joint initiative by Rolls-Royce management and manual workers to increase the pool of skilled craftsmen and technicians available to manufacturing industry in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has explained in his reply to the chairman of Rolls-Royce Ltd. that, although the Government are already providing some £30 million annually to support employers' apprentice training efforts, we cannot provide total financial support for long term training occupations. I welcome the initiative of Rolls-Royce, and the Manpower Services Commission has been asked to explore with the company the possibility of using its spare training capacity to offer higher level courses to unemployed young people under the youth opportunities programme. These courses aim to blend broad based training and job experience which are relevant to a range of jobs in the local labour market.