§ Mr. Cowansasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether levy-funded grants for approved apprentice training paid by the Manpower Services Commission are available to nationalised industries.
§ Mr. GoldingI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the position is as follows: where a nationalised industry is in scope of an industrial training board it is eligible for grants from the board for approved training. These grants are funded from levy on the firms covered by the board and may include272W grants in support of apprentice training. It may also be eligible for (i) grants provided by the Manpower Services Commission to industry through industrial training boards and other national organisations in support of certain key training objectives; and (ii) grants to encourage the maintenance of apprentice intakes related to industry's forward needs for skilled manpower which would otherwise be threatened by the economic recession.
Nationalised industries not in scope to an industrial training board would be eligible for the publicly funded grants referred to in (i) and (ii) above, but not for ITB levy funded grants.