Training (Hansard, 8 May 1990)

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) whether he will make it his practice to make information on(a) the undertakings given by local enterprise companies about training, (b) expenditure per head on YT and ET programmes and (c) the amount to be spent in various training agencies in Scottish Enterprise areas, available on request to hon. Members;
(2) what information about training that is currently available he will cease to make available to hon. Members when Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise are operational.

§ Mr. Lang
Final decisions have yet to be taken on the range of information about training programmes which local enterprise companies will be required to collect. When these decisions have been taken I shall write to the hon. Member with a detailed list of information which will be collected centrally. My right hon. and learned Friend will make such information available to hon. Members provided that it is not commercial in confidence or personal information about individual trainees.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether when the Training Agency has re-negotiated employment training and youth training contracts, he will inform hon. Members of the results of those renegotiations.

§ Mr. Lang
When the current recontracting exercise has been completed I will be glad to provide general information about the outcome for hon. Members. However details of individual contracts remain commercial in confidence and will not be made available.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will make it his practice to make information on(a) the amount of unused capacity on ET and YT schemes, (b) the extent to which expenditure on ET and YT schemes in Scotland exceeded budgets and (c) the steps taken to investigate complaints about the workings of YT and ET schemes, available on request to hon. Members.

§ Mr. Lang
Information on the investigation of complaints about employment training and youth training68W will be made available so far as this does not involve matters which must be considered to be commercial in confidence or personal information about individual traineess.
I do not provide information on matters relevant to the contracts with individual training providers. Information about unfilled places on both employment training and youth training is currently available for Scotland and for each Training Agency area office. Information about expenditure on these programmes is already available for Scotland.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will detail the type of information about employment training and youth training schemes which he is(a) prepared and (b) not prepared to give to hon. Members.

§ Mr. Lang
I am always ready to supply to hon. Members any reliable information about employment training and youth training schemes which is collected by the Training Agency provided that information is not commercial in confidence or personal information about individual trainees.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will make it his practice to inform an hon. Member of the number of employment training and youth training places being offered by particular firms or organisations.

§ Mr. Lang
Information about the employment training and youth training places offered by particular placement providers is and will remain commercial in confidence.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will make it his practice to make information on(a) the number of places being offered on YT and ET schemes in particular skills, (b) the number of places for trainees with special needs being offered on YT and ET and by which organisations and (c) the instructions being given to Training Agency staff on the principles by which they negotiate training contracts with training agents and training managers available on request to hon. Members.

§ Mr. Lang
I am happy to provide hon. Members with details of any general instructions issued to Training Agency staff on the principles by which they negotiate training contracts where such general instructions exist. However, the new flexibilities introduced for youth training and employment training mean that the basis on which training contracts are negotiated will vary from contract to contract as dictated by local circumstances.
I do not provide information on matters relevant to contracts with individual training providers. General information about numbers of people in training by occupational categories and on trainees with special needs is not currently available because the Training Agency is presently modifying the computer systems used to collect training data.