National Vocational Qualifications

HC Deb 19 February 1990 vol 167 cc501-2W

Sir Fergus Montgomery

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he is taking to improve co-operation in bringing about the comprehensive framework of national vocational qualifications.

Mr. Jackson

The work of the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) lies at the heart of Government policy for the reform and rationalisation of vocational qualifications. When NCVQ was established in 1986, the Government accepted the advice that a voluntary process of reform, through the procedures of NCVQ, represented the best way of securing the commitment of all concerned with the formulation and delivery of quality national vocational qualifications.

My right hon. Friend attended NCVQ's council meeting on 29 January 1990 when he acknowledged the progress that had already been made and invited the council to identify ways in which he might assist in its future work. He plans to hold a further meeting with the chairman and chief executive of NCVQ as part of that process, and continues to keep in close touch with the major examining and validating bodies offering vocational qualifications.