§ Mr. RowlandsTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what guidelines he is issuing to training and enterprise councils in the quality requirements expected of training managing agents in the forthcoming competitive contracts and tenders with regard to (1) the number of monitoring visits to companies expected of such managers each year, (2) the training reviews of each trainee, (3) the off-the-job training requirements, (4) the percentage of trainees expected to reach national vocational qualifications levels 2 and 3 and (5) the staff qualifications of the training managers and their own training programme.
Mr. JacksonTraining and enterprise councils agree with my Department a strategy for managing quality. This is an integral part of their corporate and business plans. These plans form the foundation of contractual arrangements between TECs and my Department. This quality strategy sets out the mechanisms the TEC will use to ensure improvements in value for money and relevance of their provision, and includes their arrangements to ensure the capability and efficiency of their training providers. As a minimum, TECs are required to maintain standards in line with the approved training organisation criteria or an equivalent locally agreed standard.