Industrial Training Levy (Construction Industry Training Board) Order 2009

My Lords, I, too, thank the Minister for explaining so clearly what these two levies are about. For the past nine years in this House, I have taken the annual statement of these levies, and I was wondering when the changes that we put into effect in the Further Education and Training Act 2007 would come into force. I am delighted that, with these two orders, we are making arrangements for the levies to exist for the next three years. I noted previously that they were set up under the Industrial Training Act 1982. The Construction Industry Training Board and the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board were the only two industry training boards that opted, under the Act, to have an industrial training levy. The reason is well indicated by the two surveys that we have before us. The industry has been well served by the levy. Others have remarked that as well as a number of very large firms, the industry has a very large number of small firms, self-employed workers and subcontractors, and the levy grant system has enabled the establishment of a training system across both industries that has proved to be very satisfactory. Like the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, we on these Benches see this type of system as being relatively satisfactory, and are surprised that more of the sector skills councils are not seeking to extend the system to other industries. We have talked about the skills pledge. One thing that the CITB has introduced has been the smart card, which has kept note of what qualifications people have acquired as they have proceeded through the industry. This has been an extremely successful experiment, and is being extended. It is a system that we on these Benches very much commend. With regard to the benefits secured for each pound spent in relation to the Construction Industry Training Board, we note that the figures given in the Explanatory Notes are slightly different—it was £2.03 for the CITB, rather than the figure quoted by the Minister—but I suspect that he has more up-to-date figures. The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board reckons that it gets £2.52 back for every pound spent. Perhaps we are less sceptical than the other Benches but we take these figures as stated, partly because one sees the advantage to the industry of these schemes. We have no problem endorsing these orders and agreeing with the Minister that they should be passed.