Hauliers find some joy in training Bill
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HE ROAD Haulage Association has given a guarded welcome to he Employment and Training Bill which had its first reading last Neek.
While it is waiting with baited )reath for the Manpower Ser(ices Commission's review of he working of the Road Trans)ort Industry Training Board and he industrial training system in jeneral, it sees the Bill as a step n the right direction.
The provision to allow Em)loyment Secretary James Prior
o set up, abolish, or change the ;cope of an ITB without an MSC .ecommendation is seen as a ;tep towards the RHA's goal of tismantling the existing training )ureaucracy.
"Our main complaint about he board at the moment is that ts power to raise levy is not matched by the RHA having authority to control the Board. And the levy rises constantly while the fortunes of the industry go down," an RHA spokesman said this week.
Consequently, the RHA is less happy about the provision in the Bill which would allow the Board to finance its expenses by a levy on employers, and to use the money it already has for these expenses. "This would be totally unacceptable to us," said a spokesman.
White it described a proposal to widen the scope for possible levy exemption as "just fiddling with the matter", the RHA did accept that, if the present framework cannot be abolished, then at least this is a step in the right direction. Similarly, it feels the clause which would force Boards to increase their accountability and provide their industries with more information they hold is a sop. "The only way of getting accountability is to ensure that whoever pays gets majority representation on the Board."
The Bill also calls for a removal of ministerial control over appointments to Board-delegated committees, and over most allowances paid to Board and board committee members.