§ Mr. CouchmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to encourage industry to train those over 25 years of age for the jobs of the future; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NichollsThe falling number of young people entering the labour market means that employers will need to invest more in the training of adults to provide the skills they need to compete. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has taken and is planning a number of steps to support and encourage increased efforts by employers to train and retrain the adult work force, including those over 25 years old, through working life.
The £1.5 billion employment training programme will provide, from September, an opportunity for employers to equip up to 600,000 adult unemployed people a year with the skills needed to fill the job vacancies our economy is creating: 25 to 50-year-olds unemployed for two years or more enjoy a special priority under the programme.
The Training Commission is reviewing its current range of measures to support firms, especially smaller firms; investment in the training of their employees, to improve access and encourage greater responsiveness to new skill needs.
The Training Commission has joined with the National Economic Development Office in a campaign to encourage employers to upgrade training and retraining of adults in response to the prospective fall in the supply of young people. Industry training organisations are being encouraged to promote a similar response.