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Mr. Patrick Nicholls (Teignbridge): My hon. Friend will recall that I am the parliamentary adviser to the National Specialist Contractors Council. Therefore, will he accept my assurance that the CITB reorganisation and the relocation does not have the support of the specialist sector? He can also take it from me that that sector does not believe that it has been consulted adequately about the proposals.
Mr. Bellingham: I am very interested in my hon. Friend's comments, because the Federation of Master Builders feels the same way. When the chairman,Sir Clifford Chetwood, assured the board that the relocation enjoyed the unanimous support of the federations, at best, it was a gross misrepresentation of the truth and, at worst, it was a downright lie.
To cap it all off, I gather that the board hurried to its conclusion in order to take Sir Clifford to a celebratory lunch, having effectively axed 291 jobs in my constituency. The conduct of the board meeting was absolutely shameful and Sir Clifford Chetwood--a captain and a knight of industry who has many admirers in this place and throughout the country--should be ashamed of himself. It reinforced my view, and that of
many of my hon. Friends, that Sir Clifford was determined to bulldoze the decision through the board at all costs before he stood down as chairman.
I support the CITB and I shall continue to do so in future as I believe that we must have a statutory training board with a levy to provide training for our youngsters and to maintain high safety standards. I am obviously pleased that it intends to invest in new training facilities in my constituency and I have no doubt that it could have a bright future. I believe also that the changes that the CITB is making to the field service and the streamlining of the headquarters--which will be painful in any event--can be justified and sustained.
However, I cannot under any circumstances support the relocation of the headquarters away from Bircham.I visited there on Monday and I found that the decision has completely shattered morale. There is a strong chance of industrial action at Bircham. When Sir Clifford Chetwood assumed responsibility for the CITB, it was rich in reserves, had very high staff morale and was building on the excellent work of Dennis Maiden, Derek Gaulter and Leslie Kemp: it knew where it was going.Sir Clifford is now handing over an organisation where morale is at rock bottom and everything is in a complete shambles because of the uncertainty and staff bewilderment. After all, the greatest asset of any organisation--particularly a training board--is its staff.
I believe that the new chairman, Hugh Try, has his work cut out: as things stand, he must push forward the very important reforms restructuring the field service and streamlining the headquarters, while simultaneously taking on the relocation, when the federations have not been consulted properly and in the run-up to the new levy. My hon. Friend, as the Minister who will take the levy through Parliament, will be aware that it normally goes through on the basis of consensus. If he is to bring the levy to Parliament without industry consensus--there is grave danger that, if the Federation of Master Builders and the National Federation of Specialist Contractors withdraw their support, it will not have the necessary percentage--there could be a crisis of confidence.
Mr. Robert Ainsworth (Coventry, North-East)
rose--
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Michael Morris):
Order. Does the hon. Gentleman have permission from both the hon. Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham) and the Under-Secretary?
Mr. Bellingham
indicated assent.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. James Paice)
indicated assent.
Mr. Ainsworth:
I congratulate the hon. Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham) on obtaining the debate and on the tremendous resistance that he is putting up to the proposals on behalf of his constituents. He is not alone and I know that there is a groundswell of resistance to the proposals in his locality, which includes not only the trade unions represented at the Construction Industry Training Board--I declare at the start of my remarks that my constituency has a sponsorship arrangement with the Manufacturing Science Finance union, which is one of the trade unions represented at the CITB--but the county council, Mr. Clive Needle, the local Member of the European Parliament, and the prospective parliamentary candidate for Norwich, North--Dr. Ian Gibson. So there is a groundswell of support for the hon. Member's campaign of resistance to the proposals.
I am sure that the hon. Member for North-West Norfolk wishes to represent the people in his locality in his campaign, especially in the light of some of the very insulting and disparaging remarks that have been made about understandably sensitive matters. But resistance is growing wider, not only in the trade unions but in the federations.
The hon. Member for Teignbridge (Mr. Nicholls) mentioned the National Specialist Contractors Association, and I wish to make a point about the process that was used to bulldoze through the proposals.I understand that a dinner meeting was called the day before the board meeting, and the board was told that the affiliated organisations, including the National Specialist Contractors Association, were all unanimously in favour of the proposals. That simply is not so. The director general, Ronald Davies, has spoken about his total opposition to the proposals. At a meeting in the House the other night, Denis Maiden, the director of the Federation of Master Builders, left us in no doubt about his absolute opposition.
Given the clear evidence of a lack of objectivity in the way in which the decision was taken to move the CITB, we need, at least, a reconsideration of that decision. We are looking to the Under-Secretary to apply the maximum pressure to get that reconsideration. There are very clear indications that the process was not correct and that the board was deceived about the level of support for the proposals. It was told that the levy payers and the trade were unanimous in support, but some of the levy payers are vociferously opposed. The work force is also opposed and there is a clear case for reconsideration.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. James Paice):
I am sure that the House will agree that any hon. Member would feel as my hon. Friend the Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham) does about something that so seriously affects his constituency. He will know of my concern for rural areas, as I represent a constituency not very far from his, and therefore of my personal empathy with the situation in which he finds himself.
The Construction Industry Training Board, as the House will know, is one of the two remaining statutory training boards, and its existence owes much to the work of my hon. Friend at the time of the review of training boards some years ago, and to the unique employment pattern of the construction industry and the support of the employers in the industry for the statutory status. The CITB is a very large business whose sole function is to promote and provide training within the construction industry. It is funded partly by a statutory levy which is approved annually by the House, and partly from income generated through training contracts. The Industrial Training Act 1982 requires that not only is the levy approved by the House, but that the annual grant scheme proposals are approved by Ministers and the annual report and accounts are laid before the House. Although the rate of the levy is normally the result of consultation and usually has the support of at least 50 per cent. of the industry, that does not have to be the case before it is put before the House. However, it would be clear to the House that if that level of support were not forthcoming from the industry I would need good reasons to proceed.
Despite the requirements of the 1982 Act, it is the responsibility of the board of the CITB to manage its affairs and control its operations. Neither I nor my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment can interfere with such decisions--much as I understand the wishes of my hon. Friend and the hon. Member for Coventry, North-East (Mr. Ainsworth) that it were otherwise.
Since 1982, the CITB has been the subject of periodic reviews concerning its status. The last review was in 1993 and, due to widespread support from the industry's employer organisations for its retention, it was reconstituted for the period until March 1998. The next review will therefore commence next year, and any decisions made by the board must be in the knowledge that there can be no guarantee of the outcome of that review and therefore the future of the board's status.My hon. Friend referred to a letter I sent two or three days ago to the secretary general of the National Specialist Contractors Association on that specific subject.
My hon. Friend also referred to the handling of the decision by the board and to its announcement. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I share his concerns. It is apparent that many of the federations received little notice of the proposals, and some I know are aggrieved that they did not have more time to consider
the implications of the proposals. It is especially bad that no arrangements were made to communicate the decision to the staff until the following day, by which time the whole issue was in the media. That is not the standard of management that one would expect from a training organisation, which should be at the forefront of modern staff management techniques.
The House knows that the construction industry has gone through a long and painful period with a considerable amount of restructuring and reduction of overheads. It is no surprise that the CITB should do likewise, and in as much as the principle of the reorganisation is to refocus the board's work on its customers and maximise resources for training, the reorganisation is to be welcomed. I am conscious, as I go round the country, that there are many levy payers who resent the board's role, and who are unaware or unconvinced of the board's value. Any effort to concentrate on levy payers' needs will receive my wholehearted support. Equally, all levy payers--large or small--will expect the CITB to be run efficiently and effectively, and they will expect a reduction in the cost base and a concentration on front-line services. That will be the priority of the federations which comprise the bulk of the levy payers and put forward the nominations for the board. They will be primarily concerned that the levy is used to provide the best services for the needs of their members.
It is clear from my hon. Friend's speech that the relocation of the headquarters away from Bircham Newton vexes him most. It is, in my view, a separate matter to the reorganisation of the board, which I welcome, but it is for the board to decide. It must--as it did--examine the costs of relocation and any perceived benefits. Having done so and having reached a decision, it is the board's responsibility to explain it to its members and staff and convince them that it is right for the industry. The board will need to consider many issues, including the costs and benefits; the frequency with which people visit the headquarters and, therefore, the importance of the travel links, to which my hon. Friend referred; and whether better management and training could overcome the alleged cultural difficulties, to which my hon. Friend also referred.
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