To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many training and enterprise councils have received development lending; and if he will make a statement.

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will make a statement on the progress of the establishement of training and enterprise councils.

Thirty-five prospective training and enterprise councils from all parts of England and Wales have now received development funding, and the first TECs will become operational early next year. When we launched TECs in March, we expected that it would take three to four years to complete the network. We are now far ahead of that schedule—the applications received so far already cover half the working population of England and Wales and the network will be in place by September 1990.

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his answer. Will he give every consideration to an application, which I believe is currently before him, for a TEC to be set up in my Constituency—or, at least, in the area that covers it? Will he ensure that the scheme places every possible emphasis on long-term retraining for the future and does not become merely a "make-work" scheme? I understand that there is a felicitous partnership between the local authority, the Department and leading employers in the area.

Yes, I think that there is a unity among employers, local authorities and all the other groups involved, and I hope that that unity can be maintained. TECs are there to help with training for both the unemployed and those in employment.

The Kent application to which my hon. Friend has referred was received at the end of October. Our initial reaction is that the proposal is of very high quality, demonstrating a real partnership in the county between leading employers, the local authority and the Training Agency.

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that senior industrialists are contributing time to make the concept of TECs a success? I note that although there are four TECs in Yorkshire, there are none in Humberside. Can my right hon. Friend give me some comfort by telling me that Humberside may have one in the future?

Yes, I believe that one is in preparation. We certainly hope that that will come about, and we look forward to receiving an application from Humberside.

My hon. Friend is entirely right—TECs are composed of senior industrialists and there is no question about the quality and commitment that those industrialists are showing.

Can the Secretary of State tell us whether the TECs, or any other such arrangements, are available o help a group of apprenticies in Bradford facing redundancy with a year or more of their apprenticeships to go? They are anxious to complete their training and find themselves in very difficult circumstances. Can the Secretary of State do anything to help those young people?

I shall look into that. Certainly, in principle, there is everything that a TEC can do in such circumstances. That is one of their advantages—they deal essentially with the local labour market. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will allow me to study the specific circumstances and come back to him.

The Secretary of State will be aware that the success of bodies such as the Dundee project in turning around the economy of our city in the 1980s has been based on the granting of representation to local authorities, trade unions, central Government and the business community. Why has the hon. Gentleman departed from that successful formula in the establishment of the new training bodies throughout the country?

The Scottish arrangements are a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland, and separate legislation will be needed for that country. I have been describing the position in England and Wales. Overall, however, we want a partnership between all interests at local level.

My right hon. Friend is to be congratulated on the training and enterprise initiative. Will he ensure that all the other Government employment services such as jobcentres and training schemes are put fully at the disposal of 200 of my constituents employed at Quality Parts at Fylde who, sadly, have been made redundant and could well benefit from the many services available to enable them to become employed again?

I will certainly ask the employment service to examine the position, and we shall seek to do what we can to alleviate or, indeed, solve the problem.

Has the Secretary of State seen the CBI report, published this morning, which says that Britain's training is way behind that of the rest of Europe and holding back the progress of the economy? Will he review all the rotten training initiatives that the Government have launched and then give us a proper structure of training so that British people can develop proper skills and the economy can flourish?

It for exactly that kind of reason that the TEC initiative has been launched. I realise that the hon. Lady has been critical of a number of other proposals, but I hope that she will recognise that the TECs involve cross-party agreement and agreement by most people at literally local level. I hope that she will not undertake the kind of activities that she undertook in regard to employment training, which do no service to training or to the unemployed.

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the employers, who are in partnership in the training and enterprise councils, are investing about £15 billion in training? Does he agree that the Government's agreement to implement the social contract, the acceptance of minimum wages and no restriction on strikes would result in a loss of jobs and a cut in the budgets which those employers put into training, to the detriment of British industry and British jobs?

I very much agree with all that my hon. Friend has said, but I must point out that there is a later question on the Order Paper on that point.