Education and training — a vital need

Abstract

I first came to this conference just four years ago. It was, I recall, almost the first major speaking engagement after my appointment as Chairman of the Manpower Services Commission. It was certainly the first occasion since Norman Tebbit had announced the introduction of the Youth Training Scheme. Indeed, as I recall, that was the major subject of our debate that day — would we be able to put in place a national training scheme for hundreds of thousands of young people? Would we have enough employers, enough trainers, enough time?