§ Mr. Colin Shepherdasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will now make a statement about the future size and composition of the Agricultural Training Board.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerFollowing consultations with employer and employee organisations and with the Education Ministers concerned, my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales and I have re-appointed Mr. J. S. Barber MRCA, Mr. H. P. F. Crawford MBE, Mr. A. G. Harris NDA MIAgrE, Miss E. A. Hock BA Hons. Msc. Mr. S. K. Neale, Mr. A. E. H. Phillips Bsc. Hons. Msc. and Mr M. Rees FRAgS. JP to the Agricultural Training Board for a three-year period starting on 1 April 1980, and for the same period we have appointed Mr. M. R. Burnett, who farms in Sutherland and who previously served on the board from 1974 to 1976.
We have invited the Chairman-designate of the board—Mr. C. E. Vavasour—to advise us on the future size and composition of the board. He has been asked to have regard to its likely commitments and problems in the 1980s, including constraints on public expenditure, and to Government conclusions on the Manpower Services Commission's current review of industrial training boards generally. I understand that Mr. Vavasour proposes to seek the assistance of board members in his review and, in the interests of continuity, to ask members of the board's committees to remain in office for the time being.