§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what measures his Department is taking to increase the availability of good quality training facilities in Coventry. [48535]
§ Dr. HowellsThe Government fund a range of national programmes, through the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, Training and Enterprise. This organisation is charged with ensuring—in partnership with all key players—that the availability of training facilities, the mix of different programmes and the location of their delivery are appropriate to the needs of the area. These needs are developed in partnership, with the Chamber in the strategic lead, and are reviewed on a regular basis in consultation with the Government Office through an in-year and annual business planning process.
With regard to the quality of training and facilities, all Chambers and Training and Enterprise Councils are required to have in place a system of quality assurance which meets quality standards defined by my Department. The Chamber goes through a licensing and 3 year re-licensing process and, more recently, within the context of re-licensing we have introduced the Business Excellence Model as an additional measure designed to drive up standards.
The National Training Standards Council has been set up and it will inspect and report on all Government funded training; it is anticipated that the Council will, over a 4 year timescale, inspect all training providers. The focus of the inspections will be on what the trainees receive and the benefits which accrue to them as customers of this training.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of the role of training in encouraging the growth of small firms. [48532]
§ Dr. HowellsThe Department does not have statistical proof of the effect of training on the growth of small firms, because it is too difficult to isolate the impact of training from other factors including the wider economy. However, some small firms have reported growth in terms of employment, productivity, turnover and profitability as a result of training. Research on the issue was reviewed in a DfEE Research Report by David Storey and Paul Westhead in 1997 which is available in the Library.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much was allocated through his Department to small and medium enterprises for training purposes in each of the five years up to 1997. [48533]
484W
§ Dr. HowellsThe Department contracts with, and funds, Training and Enterprise Councils to arrange work based training for young people and unemployed adults, and to support organisations to be recognised as Investors in People. Many small and medium enterprises are involved with, and benefit from these initiatives locally. However, we do not have information about the split of funding between different sized enterprises.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what statistics his Department has collated on the effect of training on staff turnover rates in small and medium firms in the United Kingdom. [48536]
§ Dr. HowellsStudies investigating the relationship between training and labour turnover typically use data from surveys of individuals, so statistics are not available on the effect of training on turnover by firm size. A recent study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies used data from the Labour Force Survey and National Child Development Study to examine this relationship, and found that labour mobility was lower for individuals who had previously received work-related training, particularly if this training was employer-funded.