§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will make it her policy to encourage small and medium-sized employers to take on trainees by allowing them to offset the employment costs of those trainees against the employers' national insurance account; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. McLoughlinThe Government keep their policies to stimulate employers to train under constant review. They already make a substantial contribution to the training costs of employers of all sizes through youth training and employment training.
Employers can also generally deduct the cost of training employees when calculating business profits for income and corporation tax purposes.