§ Mr. Hancockasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement about the future of information technology centres (a) in Portsmouth and (b) in the rest of the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe Government are firmly committed to the information technology centre programme, which will have an important role to play in the new two-year youth training scheme to be introduced from 1 April 1986. An examination of the future role and overall strategy for information technology centres will be carried out in the next few months by the Manpower Services Commission in consultation with interested parties, including centre sponsors and managers, and will be completed by the early autumn. It will cover all information technology centres, including Portsmouth. The commission's examination will be carried out in parallel with an independent review of information technology centres being undertaken by management consultants.