Blueprint for a fitter Britain

A NEW General Diploma for 16- to 18-year-olds, more vocational courses for 14- to 16- year-olds and a pounds 300m package of training measures form the centre of a White Paper on competitiveness announced by the Cabinet yesterday.

The long-awaited proposals produced under the leadership of Michael Heseltine, President of the Board of Trade, are a serious attempt to retrain the workforce and reinforce links between industry and government.

They represent a distinct departure from Thatcher doctrines, but the Opposition condemned them as 'glitzy' and devoid of fresh ideas.

A new fast-track apprenticeship scheme for 18- and 19- year-olds, an extra pounds 87m for careers guidance and a pounds 63m boost for schools careers guidance were announced as part of moves that Mr Heseltine told the Commons would set a 'formidable agenda for change and improvement across the private and public sectors'.

The training plans of his colleague David Hunt, the Employment Secretary, also provide for consultation on new 'learning credits' - effectively training vouchers worth up to pounds 2,000 apiece - which would allow young people to 'buy' training and education from schools, colleges and employers.

Money available for training, spread over three years, is severely limited by public expenditure standards. Robin Cook, the Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary, condemned the White Paper yesterday as 'a bankrupt statement from a government on the verge of liquidation'. John Prescott, the Shadow Employment Secretary, welcomed the training measures 'as far as they go' but condemned the money involved as 'totally inadequate'.

Mr Heseltine - who faced steady barracking from the Labour backbenches in the Commons as it became apparent that he had no shock announcement to deliver - acknowledged that even the new money allocated to education and training measures would all 'be contained within the present public expenditure control ceilings'. Amid strong indications that Kenneth Clarke, the Chancellor, had successfully resisted demands for further spending, Mr Heseltine rejected most recommendations of the Trade and Industry Select Committee's report although he praised the committee's analysis.

In view of all the advance secrecy, some MPs were surprised how few dramatic pronouncements there were. It was also noted that the most striking measures were those announced by Mr Hunt.

The White Paper takes a free market approach, and does not include the more grandiose aspirations for government intervention in industry that Mr Heseltine came up with during his enforced exile as a backencher. But it marks another break with the Thatcher years by presaging more possible government help for industry.

Mr Heseltine told the Commons that the current wide- ranging Treasury review of capital markets, savings, the flow of funds to industry 'and the implications for taxation and other policies' would 'inform budget decisions' - raising the possibility of fiscal measures to curb 'short termism' practised by financial institutions at the expense of industrial investment.

On the issue of late debt repayment - which has produced fierce complaints, particularly from small firms - Mr Heseltine said that henceforth all state agencies would abide by the Confederation of British Industry code of prompt payment to suppliers.

Public companies would have to state their payment policy in annual reports and if these measures did not succeed, the Government would reconsider legislation in two years' time.

Industrialists welcomed the White Paper's emphasis on the importance of manufacturing. Graham Mackenzie, the director-general of the Engineering Employers' Federation, said it was 'the nearest thing yet to an industrial strategy which we have seen from this Government'.

There was criticism that the paper verged on the bland and failed to deliver the inspiration some managers had hoped for. 'Where is the leadership?' asked a consultant with Coopers and Lybrand.

Mr Heseltine insisted there were 60 new proposals in it.

MAIN POINTS OF THE WHITE PAPER

pounds 300m to be spent on strengthening vocational education and training in England and Wales.

Air traffic control services likely to be privatised.

Small businesses to be given up to pounds 1,000 'innovation' credits to help improve Britain's inventiveness.

Directors' pay should go down as well as up in response to market conditions.

Developers should be able to pay local councils to get a rapid decision for or against large planning applications.

The DTI to hire 70 more private sector export specialists to help foster trade.

New measures to encourage prompt payment of commercial debts.

Cut health and safety regulations affecting business by more than 40 per cent.

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