§ Mr. Parkasked the Secretary of State for Employment what facilities are available, regionally and nationally, for training and retraining; and what numbers can be accommodated.
§ Mr. Jim LesterI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that TOPS training takes place in skillcentres, colleges, employers' establishments and residential training centres. Provision for
Number of Region Skillcentres Annexes Places available (a) scotland … … … … 9 3 1,813 Northern … … … … [...] 3 1,920 Yorkshire and Humberside … [...] 2 1,532 North-West … … … … 9 2 2,181 Midlands … … … … 10 6 2,620 Wales … … … … 6 3 1,720 South-West … … … … 5 3 1,221 South-East … … … … 12 5 2,914 London … … … … 6 5 2,405
In the financial year 1978–79, the total number of adults trained under the TOPS scheme was 70,187 A breakdown of this number by region and by type of training establishment is as follows: Skillcentre Colleges EE & HGV* RTC* Total (b) scotland … … … 2,482 5,684 819 0 8,985 Northern … … … 2,266 2,104 695 138 5,203 Yorkshire and Humberside … 1,850 2,805 554 0 5,209 North-West … … … 2,956 6,231 2,235 5 11,427 Midlands … … … 2,961 4,209 1,713 90 8,973 Wales … … … … 2,092 1,584 514 0 4,190 South-West … … … 1,518 1,998 687 188 4,391 South-East … … … 3,788 5,584 1,279 0 10,651 London … … … 2,825 6,939 1,123 271 11,158 Great Britain … … … 22,738 37,138 9,619 692 70,187 *EE & HGV = Employers' Establishment and Heavy Goods Vehicle Drivers. RTC = Residential Training Centre.