§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps have been taken towards the implementation of the recommendations of the 211W Henniker-Heaton Committee on Day Release.
§ Mr. CroslandThe Henniker-Heaton Committee proposed that in order that the national target of at least 250,000 additional young people in further education courses on day release should be reached by 1970, local targets should be set for each local education authority by the regional advisory councils, and that the councils should inform the National Advisory Council for Education in Industry and Commerce annually of the targets set and of the progress made in reaching them.
All regional advisory councils have been considering this proposal in consultation with their local education authority members, and two councils have informed the Department of the targets for local education authorities in its area for 1965. The others are expected to do so shortly.
The Committee drew special attention to the importance of the work of the industrial training boards, which it considered would be of major assistance in achieving the Committee's objectives. It suggested that in appropriate cases boards should use their power to make day release for an employee a condition of grant to a firm. In considering the levy-grant proposals of industrial training boards, my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour, in consultation with the Secretary of State for Scotland and myself, proposes to pay particular attention to the extent to which boards intend to use these powers to encourage day release, especially for young people.