§ Mr. AtkinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list recent measures taken by him to encourage industry to reinvest in training; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. JacksonMany of our policies on training are designed to encourage effective investment by employers in training. The establishment of training and enterprise councils in England and Wales, and local enterprise companies in Scotland, has put employers in the lead in transforming attitudes towards training and enterprise locally. TECs and LECs are developing new approaches to encouraging employers to invest more effectively in training. TECs have recently been given new freedoms to use their substantial public resources more flexibly to this end. My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State has also launched "Investors in People", a new standard for effective investment in skills by employers.
These and other measures will reinforce the increasing commitment by employers to training, demonstrated by the substantial growth in recent years in the number of employees receiving training shown by the labour force survey.