§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how the £250 million announced in the "Financial Statement and Budget Report" for industry's efforts to improve the skills of the work force will be allocated. [3705]
§ Mr. PaiceThe £250 million that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced on 28 November,Official Report, columns 684–88, will be used to support the following programmes:
employer investment in people which enables TECs to help local businesses to improve their performance through the development of their people and, particularly, by achieving the investors in people standard;skills for small businesses which will improve the training skills of 24,000 key employees, who will lead the development of workforce skills in small firms across the country; andcareer development loans which aid individuals to upgrade their vocational skills with accessible bank loans.