I think that in the course of developing my argument I shall answer some of the matters about which the hon. Gentleman is anxious. Expressing a parochial interest which is not far removed from his, I think that the Scottish engineers' contribution to this country has been very significant.

My Department wrote to over 50 of the major educational organisations in January following publication of the report inviting views on the educational issues. We also issued an open invitation through the press for anyone who had views on the educational aspects of the report to let us have them. The response has been most heartening. We have had over 100 replies from individual universities and polytechnics and the departments within them. Sir Monty has obviously struck a chord with many of those responsible for educating our future engineers. In common with many of those consulted by other Departments, they broadly accept Sir Monty Finniston's diagnosis, but there is a wider spectrum of views about his prescription for action.

We hope that all the universities and polytechnics have now responded. I also hope that the Scottish universities are playing their part. If the hon. Member for Dunfermline is anxious to know about some of those institutions I shall be happy to write to him in due course.

The hon. Member for Wolverhampton, North-East referred to the engineering debate in education which has gone on for a number of years and the fact that many reports have been produced. Sir Monty points out that his report is the latest in a long line of reports from eminent committees on this subject. We fully acknowledge that. Indeed, I could add others to the list quoted by the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, North-East—Dainton, Fielden and Bolton. There have also been recent reports from the major engineering institutions—Dawson, Merriman and Chilver, to name but three.

Some important initiatives have flowed from this debate : the development of enhanced courses at a number of universities and polytechnics, the development at a number of universities of courses more specifically related to industry's needs and the establishment of the national engineering scholarship scheme by the previous Labour Administration run jointly by the Government and industry to encourage more of our most able young people to consider careers in manufacturing industry.

While the position is worrying, a number of initiatives have emerged since the great debate in the mid-1970s. Everybody acknowledges that there is a long way to go, but I believe that we are climbing back up to what we should be achieving. The strength of our system is that it has the flexibility to allow innovation of the kind that we have announced over the last few years to flourish.

Finniston points to the need for improvement in the total process of professional preparation, and the consensus of comment is strongly on his side. But I have said before, and will continue to insist, that it by no means amounts to an indictment of present engineering degree courses. On the contrary, the report pays tribute to the many strengths of our engineering education—and hon. Members on both sides of the House have acknowledged that point today—and, more importantly, the esteem in which it is held overseas.

I hope that I do not introduce a sour note into the debate, because it has been constructive, but I was disappointed to read that the Institution of Electrical Engineers, in a recent published contribution to the debate, described our degree standards in this subject as generally below those in other highly industrialised countries. I consider that to be a wrong diagnosis, and I should like that placed firmly on the record. Our academic engineering education is of a standard to match the best, but the formation package for engineers as a whole needs to include a better grounding in engineering practice—the application of engineering principles. This is as much a challenge to industry, which must take the prime responsibility for the stage of formation which follows graduation, as to the education system.

While it was still in preparation, we realised that the publication of the Finniston report would be an ideal opportunity to focus the continuing debate on engineering education and training. For that reason we decided to sponsor the two-day conference. We see this as an occasion to bring together all those with an interest—the educators, the employers of engineers and the engineers—to discuss the issues together with an independent and impartial chairman for each of the six sessions.

In order to prepare the ground for the conference, last year my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science appointed the steering committee, to which I referred, under the chairman of Mr. Dick Morris. I wish to place on record the enormous contribution that he has made in setting up the conference. Much hard work has been put into it by him and his committee. I should also like to thank the Institution of Civil Engineers at whose premises the conference will be held on 15 and 16 October, and the Institution of Electrical Engineers for the secretarial work that it has carried out for the committee.

It may be for the benefit of the House if I indicate the background that determined the appointment of members to that committee. We appointed Sir John Atwell, a mechanical engineer; Sir Kenneth Corfield, an electrical engineer; Mr. Dowd, principal of the Oldham college of technology, and also a mechanical and production engineer; Mr. Geoffrey Hall, the director of Brighton polytechnic, and a chemical engineer in fuel technology; Mrs. Innes, a head teacher from Newcastle upon Tyne, whose school has a good record on science and other related subjects; Lord Scanlon; Professor West, vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Bradford, and an electronics engineer; Mr. T. O. Williams, a director of British Aerospace, Preston, and an aeronautical and production specialists; and Mr. Muir Wood, a civil engineer. We believe that we drew together from the various regions a fair cross-section of experience. I am grateful for the work carried out by Mr. Dick Morris, given his present commitments in private enterprise.

The main task of the Committee was to prepare papers for the conference on the six major themes running through the education and training proposals of the Finniston committee. Those themes are : first, a subject designed to discuss attracting enough suitable young people, including a fair proportion of the most able, to a career in engineering; secondly, their basic formation—the first main educational course and associated practical training; thirdly, accreditation of both elements of the formation package : fourthly, recognition of professional competence; fifthly, practical experience, continuing competence and updating of knowledge; sixthly, and perhaps most important, the relationship with the technician support base—the formation of the higher level technician—and links between it and full professional formation. That conference will start on 15 October I believe that we have covered the important points because we have included experts as opposed to civil servants and officials who organise the Department. I say that without deprecating the work of the civil servants and officials.

We have tried to assist the experts in preparing the conference. They have carried out separate consultations with the major interests of both sides of industry, the professional institutions and the academic world. I understand that they have received responses, many of them lengthy and detailed, from over 150 separate organisations and institutions, and that they are now well ahead with their task of preparing conference papers.