An industrial reaction to the review of training policy

Abstract

On 27 November 1980 BACIE set up a conference to discuss the MSC report entitled OUTLOOK ON TRAINING which is intended to guide the government in making its decisions on what changes to make in the statutory system of industrial training and vocational preparation in the UK. The timing was, by accident, impeccable because on the eve of the conference the Minister had announced in the House the government's response to the review. Mr Prior was to have addressed the conference himself but pressure of business necessitated his replacement by Lord Gowrie, one of his junior ministers. The other speakers were Sir Richard O'Brien, chairman of the MSC, Len Murray of the TUC, Sir Norman Lindop, Director of Hatfield Polytechnic, Shirley Williams and Dr K B Everard, Education and Training Manager of ICI Ltd. We reproduce below Dr Everard's version of his speech, in which he gave an industrial view of the report, its proposals and such items of official government policy on vocational preparation as have been divulged to date. We have entitled the piece