§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what decisions her Department has taken in respect of TECs over the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement on her Department's involvement with TECs over the same period.
§ Mr. JackResponsibility for training and enterprise councils lies primarily with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment.
We attach importance to the provision of education and training for the land-based industries. MAFF takes a keen interest in ensuring that the agricultural and horticultural 508W industries have access to the best resources available to train their work forces. To that end, MAFF has been instrumental in providing resources to the industry training organisation for agriculture and commercial horticulture, ATB-Landbase Ltd., and in helping to ensure that those organisations, such as the TECs, which guide and provide training and education of direct interest to the land-based industries, are aware of the training needs of businesses in the rural economy.
Over the last year, the Ministry has developed its contacts with several TECs on a regional basis. We have discussed how rural initiatives can be developed in partnership with businesses and training providers, and how the available resources can best be targeted to meet the training needs of the industry. Visits by Ministers to TECs 509W are a feature of their regional programmes. MAFF and the consortium of rural TECs are members of the national rural education and training strategy whose aim is to contribute to the development of the rural education and training infrastructure. NRETS is currently considering how existing training and education mechanisms are meeting the changing needs of the land-based industries and we look forward to its advice.