§ Mr. Prescottasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many engineering companies pay a training levy; how many are exempted; how many offer apprenticeship schemes; and what, in each case, is their proportion of the total.
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§ Mr. Harold Walker, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 7th July 1975; Vol. 895, c. 39], gave the following information:—
I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the Engineering Industry Training Board estimates that in respect of the training year which commenced on 1st September 1974 about 3,100 firms within scope of the board are likely to be liable to pay a training levy, in addition a further 2,400 may be exempted from the levy under Section 4B of the Industrial Training Act 1964 as amended by the Employment and Training Act 1973, on the grounds that they meet the Board's criteria for exempting employers who satisfactorily meet their own training needs, and an estimated 17,300 firms are likely also to be exempted in view of the smaller number of their employees. It is also estimated that there were 9,900 firms where 1st year off-the-job training of craft and technician apprentices was in accordance with the recommendations of the Engineering ITB. Other firms operate apprentice training schemes which do not meet these standards. It is not possible to say what proportion of these were levy payers or exempted firms.