§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment which groups he has consulted about the future of disablement advisory committees; if the majority opinion was in favour of reducing the number of their meetings or integrating 200W industry itself to decide what skilled engineering labour it requires and to make appropriate arrangements to meet the demand.
MSC is, however, giving considerable support to industry's effort through the training for skills programme, and substantial funds are being made available through the EITB and other national training organisations to meet key objectives including apprentice recruitment.
MSC also contributes directly to skill needs through the training opportunities programme (TOPS) and through direct training services (DTS) provided at a charge to employers. TOPS and DTS trained respectively about 16,500, and about 14,000 people last year in engineering and related occupations.