§ Mr. Moonmanasked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity if she will hold discussions with representatives of both sides of the motor manufacturing industry to discuss the National Economic Development Council's Report on Government Training Centres, in particular the quality of the training and the inability of the Government training centres to meet the needs of the industry; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. HattersleyMy officials are considering the implications of the Report on "Regional Policy and the Motor Industry" and will be consulting further with the Economic Development Committee for the Motor Manufacturing Industry. This report had a strictly limited purpose, which was to collect the opinions of a small number of motor manufacturing firms about various aspects 263W of the Government's regional policies and their effect on productivity. It was not a report on Government training centres as such and its authors made no investigation of G.T.C. training.
The engineering trades taught at Government training centres are those most commonly needed by industry as a whole, and I can assure my hon. Friend that the quality and content of the training are kept under constant review. It would be wrong to regard the comments quoted in the report as having a general validity. The motor manufacturing industry has specialised needs and well-developed training schemes of its own, and I do not expect it to require assistance on a large scale from Government training centres. My Department is nevertheless considering in what ways the centres might give more substantial assistance towards meeting the industry's requirements.