Mr. Jim Callaghanasked the Secretary of State for Employment what consultation is taking place with national bodies such as the Open Learning Federation in setting up a network of centres inside and outside the further education system to cope with the likely demand for retraining courses for the adults employed in the new adult training strategy.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonDiscussions are taking place with a wide range of organisations, including the Open Learning Federation, on how best to take forward the adult training strategy. As part of this consultative process, the Manpower Services Commission will be seeking to develop more flexible and more accessible ways of delivering training which, as far as possible, uses existing institutions.
Mr. Jim Callaghanasked the Secretary of State for Employment what finance has been allocated to the Greater Manchester metropolitan area to cater for the new adult training courses in 1984–85.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThere are plans to provide courses under the training opportunities scheme in the Greater Manchester area at a cost of some £11 million in 1984–85. In addition the Government's White Paper "Training for Jobs" (Cmnd. 9135) accepted the Commission's proposal that, in preparation for a restructuring of its adult training programmes, it should run a number of pilot training programmes during 1984–85. It is not possible at this stage to say how many of these pilot programmes will be in the Greater Manchester area.