§ Mr. Ernie RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will provide a breakdown of the —55 million surplus of the construction industry training board; what information he has as to what this sum will be spent on; why the board has —74 million invested in financial institutions; on what authority the board makes such investments; and when this authority was last reviewed.
§ Mr. NichollsThe latest available accounts are for the financial year ending 31 March 1988. Detailed information is included in the 1987–88 annual report, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.
Section 17(5) of the Industrial Training Act 1982 permits a board to invest any money in a manner approved by the Training Commission. The latest advice was given to all industry training boards in October 1986 when certain categories of investment were given general approval by the commission.
The board will need to draw substantially upon its accumulated fund in order to finance training commitments already entered into and its planned increase in training effort to meet skill shortages which prevail in the industry.