§ 36. Mr. Dickensasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will take steps to encourage the awareness of young people to industry's importance to the economy.
§ Mr. WakehamI am deeply concerned that young people should have an awareness of the importance of industry to the economy and that more of them should be challenged to use their talents in industry. I know my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science shares this commitment; our two Departments work closely to increase mutual understanding and cooperation between industry and education.
The Department of Industry has an industry/education unit which actively pursues objectives of bringing an understanding of industry's role in wealth creation to all young people and also encouraging more young people to take up technological and scientific careers in industry. This unit supports specific projects which aim to achieve these objectives, including e.g. teacher secondments into industry, bringing more industrially based case studies into examination syllabi, running the annual Young Engineer for Britain competition, helping for example to set up a new advanced level in industrial studies through the Oxford examining board. It is important that young people should have an understanding of how a business operates both in terms of organisation and finance.
You will know also of the Department of Industry Micros in Schools scheme which is helping secondary schools towards the purchase of micro equipment. This very successful scheme aims to help towards bringing literacy to all young people and I am pleased to say we shall be the first county in the world to ensure that all our secondary schools are equipped with at least one microcomputer, and at the same time make provision for relevant teacher training. All these activities help prepare young people for life after full time education and in some cases I hope they will encourage them to think of setting up their own businesses.
I can assure my hon. Friend of my intention to continue and extend links between industry and education.