§ Ms. MowlamTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the principal achievements of the Open Tech project since its inception; 219W what is the current operating status of the project; and what are (a) the total costs to date, (b) the total contributions by employers, (c) the total contributions by other organisations, (d) the total contributions by local authorities and (e) the number of students and trainees enrolled per year, by region, employer, local authority, other organisation, employment status, gender, whether disabled, racial origin and by subject studied.
§ Mr. CopeThe Manpower Services Commission's Open Tech programme was a four-year developmental programme which concluded on 31 March 1987. An evaluation by the Tavistock Institute will be available shortly and its report will be placed in the Library.
The aims of the programme were to extend the training opportunities available to adults, mainly employed, at technician, supervisory and management levels, to improve access to that training, and to provide an exemplar structure of open learning materials and services. Employers, local authorities, colleges and other training providers, trade unions, industry training boards, and others participated through 140 projects. These were required by their contracts to become self-sustaining.
The principal achievements of the programme include the creation of about 35,000 learning hours of self-study packages and the establishment of a range of producers and suppliers of open learning materials and trainee support services. The packages continue to be available for sale on a commercial basis and almost all the projects are continuing to deliver open learning materials.
Total costs of the programme to the MSC were some £51 million. Additional resources contributed by sponsors during the life of the programme are estimated at £8.8 million in cash and in kind. I regret that it is not possible to allocate this between types of sponsor.
The Open Tech programme did not enrol students directly, but made open learning materials available to organisations and individuals alike. Packages purchased by employers, colleges and others will generally have been made available to several students. An accurate breakdown of the beneficiaries of Open Tech materials and the subjects they studied has not been possible therefore. The MSC's best estimate of the trainees known to have received help from the programme is as follows:
Number 1983–84 6,000 1984–85 12,000 1985–86 32,000 1986–87 65,000