§ 26. Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Employment what facilities are available in the Wolverhampton area for training and retraining; and what numbers can be accommodated.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 12 November 1980, c. 181]: The main responsibility for the provision of training and retraining rests with employers. Information on the number of training and retraining places provided by employers is not available.
The Manpower Services Commission (MSC) operates three programmes which directly provide training and retraining opportunities. First the training opportunities scheme (TOPS), which provides training or retraining for adults aged 19 and over in the MSCs skillcentres, in colleges of further education and at employers' establishments.
I am informed by the MSC that in the Wolverhampton area there are currently 273 skillcentre places available for training and retraining at Wolverhampton skillcentre and its annex, providing training opportunities for some 500 people 290W per year. In addition, a further 1,194 skillcentre places are available within daily travel distance from the Wolverhampton area.
Colleges of further education and employers' establishments are not exclusively used for TOPS training or retraining and information on the number of places in these establishments, not used by TOPS, is not available. The planned level of TOPS starts in these establishments in the Wolverhampton area is set out in the following table:
In addition, outside the Wolverhampton area, but within daily travelling distance, TOPS is supporting a further 1,400 training or retraining places.
1980/81 Colleges 154 Employers' establishments 52 TOTAL 196 Secondly, the Manpower Services Commission provides direct training services to employers for training and retraining their employees in plant or in the MSC's own establishments with resources made available according to demand. During 1979–80 some 41,441 people nationally were trained through these services, of whom 93 were in the Wolverhampton area. In the current financial year it is expected that about 190 employees will be trained in this way in the Wolverhampton area.
Thirdly, there is the youth opportunities programme, under which training courses and work experience programmes are offered to young people. In the Wolverhampton area in 1980–81 it is anticipated that about 540 young people will undertake training courses and a further 2,000 will take part in work experience programmes under the scheme.