§ 36. Mrs. GormanTo ask. the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement on policies to encourage workplace training schemes. [2106]
§ Mr. PaiceEmployers must take the lead on workplace training. The Government's policy encourages them to look upon training as an investment by demonstrating the business benefits enjoyed by employers who invest effectively in training. Training and enterprise councils are working with employers in a variety of ways to help them address and manage their training needs. Our approach is working, recent surveys show that there has been a considerable increase in the number of employees receiving training in recent years.
The investors in people standard is helping employers to make their training investment effective by linking the training and development needs of their work force directly with the achievement of business goals. Almost 25,000 employers are committed to the standard, of which 4,330 are already recognised as investors in people.