§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Secretary of State for Employment if the statement made by the Manpower Services Commission in the consultative document "A New Training Initiative" that continued financial support will not be provided for first-year apprentice training unless industry agrees to support the whole plan of action as set out in the document is Government policy.
§ Mr. Peter Morrison[pursuant to his reply, 20 July 1981, c. 55]: Yes. The Government fully support the commission's intention progressively to align all its programmes so that they make the maximum contribution to the achievement of the strategy set out in the consultative document.
In the case of apprentice support measures, to which the Government have committed £40 million both this year and next, it will be necessary to find ways to encourage the changes in skill training set out in the document without unduly jeopardising the volume of training by employers, and the commission will be discussing this with organisations concerned with industrial training.