§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to make(a) structural and (b) functional changes to training and enterprise councils. [19179]
§ Dr. HowellsWe greatly value the important work TECs are doing at the local level to raise skill levels and foster enterprise. We recognise the benefit to local partnerships of a strong private sector contribution. There are therefore no plans to make fundamental changes to the structure and functions of TECs.
We do, however, see scope for TECs to improve their performance and a range of work is in hand to raise the performance of all TECs towards the level of the best. For example, the work being done jointly with the TEC National Council to encourage TECs to benchmark themselves against each other and other organisations, and to share good practice effectively.