§ Sir William Elliottasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will extend the in-plant training scheme operated under section 9 of the Industry Act to projects providing less than 25 jobs.
§ Mr. MacGregorYes. We have decided to improve the scheme by abolishing the requirement that projects must provide a minimum of 25 jobs in order to qualify for assistance. This means that from today the scheme will be open to projects of any size where the training element is essential to the success of the project and the criteria for section 7 assistance are met. In addition, the scheme is being extended to service industry projects and to intermediate areas although projects in special development areas and development areas will have first call on the limited resources available from the European social fund which meets half the cost of the scheme.