asked the Minister of Labour what has been the response to date to his appeal to industry to support the course being organised for training officers by the British Association for Commercial and Industrial Education in Bristol in May.

There has been a heavy over-application for this course, which is being organised jointly by B.A.C.I.E., the Institute of Personnel Management, the Industrial Training Council and the City and Guilds Institute.

While I welcome what the Minister has just said, may I ask what further steps he is taking to enlarge the operation of the course? Will he agree that lack of skilled training officers is likely to be a bottleneck in expansion of industrial training, and that something on a big scale is needed that may lead to some hundreds of courses every year? What plans are now being made to prepare for that sort of operation?

The words used by the hon. Gentleman in the earlier part of his supplementary question seem to me to be a paraphrase of something I said during the Committee stage of the Industrial Training Bill. We both agree on the need for more provision, and I am very glad that this time there has been over-application for the course. While I am looking at the whole position, we must see as the course goes along what steps we can take, or need to take. However, I think that the hon. Gentleman will remember that this particular course was heavily subsidised by my Ministry, and I believe that, in general, industry should bear the cost itself.