§ 5. Sir Gilbert Longdenasked the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to provide training facilities in the Watford and south-west Hertfordshire area.
§ 43. Mr. Redmondasked the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has for further expansion of Government training centres.
§ Mr. Chichester-ClarkA new Government training centre is planned to open in the Watford area in 1976. Under the Training Opportunities Scheme courses are already available at four colleges and two employers' establishments in the Watford and south-west Hertfordshire area. In addition to the new Government training centre in the Watford area, we plan to build new Government training centres at Preston, Doncaster, Peterborough, Swindon and Grimsby, to open in 1976.
§ 26. Mr. John Hannamasked the Secretary of State for Employment to what extent his Department has improved industrial training facilities during the last three years.
§ Mr. Chichester-ClarkDuring the past three years we have almost doubled the number of people trained under Government schemes, to over 33,000 in 1972. Eight new Government training centres have been opened, and extensions made to 21 more, providing an additional 3,000 places. With the introduction of the Training Opportunities Scheme in August last year a much wider range of courses became available, particularly in colleges of further education, and over 8,000 people took college courses in 1972 compared with 1,700 in 1970. The expansion will continue; we aim to train 40,000 people this year.