Welsh Affairs

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 9:46 pm on 28 February 1991.

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Photo of Mr Wyn Roberts Mr Wyn Roberts , Conwy 9:46, 28 February 1991

I will not give way to the hon. Gentleman, as he has not been present throughout the debate.

There has also been an increase in employment in the service industries—up by 93,000, or just over 16 per cent., on the 1979 figure, reaching a total of 665,000 in September last year.

Many Opposition Members have made much of business failures. What matters is the net gain in the number of new businesses. The number of businesses that fail is still being exceeded by the number of new ones that are being created. A record number of businesses were operating in Wales in 1990. All will be given new challenges and opportunities as inflation falls further later in the year, and as we advance towards the European single market of 1992.

Let me repeat that I do not know where the Opposition get their ideas. We regard training as a key priority vital to the future success of the Welsh economy. Our training policy is designed to boost the skills of our work force and to provide for our industry. We are making great progress towards the achievement of those aims, not least through the establishment of TECs. I am astonished to hear them so maligned by Opposition Members.

Already, the TECs have secured more employer involvement in training than ever before. With the signing of the Powys TEC contract tomorrow, we shall have a complete network of TECs in Wales, ahead of the national network and two years ahead of the original schedule. The budget for adult and youth training in Wales this year is £128 million, compared with £12 million in 1978–79. Opposition Members have been far too hard on the TECs, which have barely come into existence.

This afternoon, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced the provision of an additional £8 million for TECs to spend on employment training. That is a substantial sum, which demonstrates our commitment to helping those who need help most.

I can tell the hon. Member for Ogmore (Mr. Powell) that that increase takes account of the rise in unemployment, and allows employment training to continue to play its important role in helping the long-term unemployed to return to work. We want to ensure that a wide range of help is provided for those people. I agree that, for many people, help with searching for jobs or securing interviews can sometimes be more effective than training, and the number of places in job clubs and on the job interview guarantee scheme has therefore been increased.