Employment And Training Act 1973

The Manpower Services Commission and the Employment Service and Training Services Agencies

Establishment of the Commission and Agencies

1

Functions of the Commission and Agencies

2

• (1) The Secretary of State shall make such arrangements as he considers appropriate for the purpose of assisting persons to select, train for, obtain and retain employment suitable for their ages and capacities or of assisting persons to obtain suitable employees (including partners and other business associates).

• (2) Arrangements under this section may—

• (a) include arrangements for providing temporary employment for persons in Great Britain who are without employment;

• (b) include arrangements for encouraging increases in the opportunities for employment and training that are available to women and girls or to disabled persons;

• (c) subject to the restriction of paragraph (a) of this subsection to persons in Great Britain, be made in respect of employment and training anywhere in the United Kingdom or elsewhere;

• (d) include provision for the making of payments by the Secretary of State, by way of grant or loan or otherwise, to persons who provide facilities in pursuance of the arrangements, to persons who use those facilities and to other persons specified in or determined under the arrangements;

• (e) include provision for the making of payments to the Secretary of State by other parties to the arrangements and by persons who use those facilities;

• (f) include arrangements for securing that assistance in relation to the matters mentioned in subsection (1) of this section is provided by persons other than the Secretary of State.

• (3) The payments for which arrangements under this section may provide—

• (a) shall include the payment to a person by the Secretary of State of an allowance pending a time when payments will be or may be made to that person in respect of his use of facilities which will be or may be made available to him under any such arrangements;

• (b) shall not include the payment of any such allowance to a person—

• (i) for any period after that person has attained the age of eighteen years; or

• (ii) for any period for which child benefit is payable in respect of that person;

and

• (c) shall not include any payment by any person to the Secretary of State, other than a payment for publications issued in pursuance of the arrangements, in respect of the seeking or obtaining for that person of any employment under a contract of service or apprenticeship.

• (3A) Without prejudice to subsection (2)(f) of this section, the Secretary of State may wholly or partly perform his duty under subsection (1) of this section in relation to Scotland by authorising or directing Scottish Enterprise or Highlands and Islands Enterprise to act on his behalf—

• (a) in the making of arrangements under this section in such cases or for such purposes as may be specified in or determined under the authorisation or direction;

• (b) in the taking of such steps for the purposes of, or in connection with, the carrying out of any arrangements under this section (including any made otherwise than by Scottish Enterprise or Highlands and Islands Enterprise) as may be so specified or determined,

and the power under this subsection to give authorisations or directions shall include power to revoke or vary any authorisation or direction so given.

• (3B) Where Scottish Enterprise or Highlands and Islands Enterprise make arrangements under this section in pursuance of an authorisation or direction made by the Secretary of State under subsection (3A)(a) above, they shall, at such times as the Secretary of State may require, report to him what provision, if any, they have included in those arrangements in relation to disabled persons.

• (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (5) No payments shall be made by or on behalf of the Secretary of State by virtue of any power conferred by this section, other than payments under section 11(3) or 12(4) of this Act, unless the Treasury have approved—

• (a) the amounts of the payments or the manner of determining those amounts; and

• (b) the terms on which they are made or the manner of determining those terms.

• (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Control of the Commission by Secretary of State

3

Obtaining and disclosure of information by the Commission and Agencies etc.

4

• (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (3) Nothing in section 9 of Statistics of Trade Act 1947 (which restricts the disclosure of information obtained under that Act) shall prevent or penalise—

• (a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (c) the disclosure by the Secretary of State or the Chancellor of the Exchequer to a board of relevant information;

• (d) the disclosure by either of the Agencies to the Commission or the other Agency or a board of relevant information which is of a kind specified in a notice in writing given to the disclosing Agency and the recipient of the information by the Secretary of State or the Chancellor of the Exchequer in pursuance of this paragraph;

• (e) the disclosure by the Secretary of State or the Chancellor of the Exchequer, . . . the Commission or either of the Agencies of relevant information, consisting of the name and address of any establishment, the numbers of persons of different descriptions employed there and the nature of the activities carried on there, to

• (i) any person who is or is to be engaged in the carrying out on behalf of the Secretary of State or the Chancellor of the Exchequer . . . of any research or survey relating to matters connected with training for employment, with industrial relations or otherwise with employment or unemployment; or

• (ii) an officer of any of the following bodies who is authorised by that body to receive the information, namely, . . . a local planning authority within the meaning of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 or a planning authority within the meaning of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. . . .... and a development corporation within the meaning of the New Towns Act 1965 or the New Towns (Scotland) Act 1968;

• (iii) an officer of the National Assembly for Wales who is authorised by that body to receive the information for the purposes of its functions under the Welsh Development Agency Act 1975

• (f) the disclosure by the Secretary of State or the Chancellor of the Exchequer , . . . of statistics compiled wholly or partly from relevant information about the numbers of persons employed in any activity or area.

• (3A) Where the Secretary of State or the Chancellor of the Exchequer discloses information to a board or any other person under subsection (3)(c) or (f ) of this section, he shall give a notice in writing to that person specifying the purposes for which the information may be used.

• (4) In the preceding subsection—

• “a board” means an industrial training board established under section 1 of the Industrial Training Act 1964 or section 1 of the Industrial Training Act 1982; and

• “relevant information” means information obtained under the said Act of 1947;

and any reference in that subsection to the Secretary of State or the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a government department . . . , . . . or such a board includes respectively a reference to an officer of his or of that body and also, in the case of a reference to such a board, a reference to any committee appointed by the board, to any officer of such a committee and to any person entitled to take part in proceedings of the board.

• (5) A person to whom information is disclosed in pursuance of subsection (3) of this section shall not use the information for a purpose other than—

• (a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (c) in a case falling within paragraph (c) . . . or (f) of that subsection, a purpose specified in the notice given with respect to the information in pursuance of subsection (3A) of this section;

• (cc) in the case of information given to such a person as is mentioned in paragraph (e)(i) of that subsection, a purpose related to the carrying out of the research or survey in the carrying out of which that person is or is to be engaged;

• (d) in the case of information given to an officer of . . . a local planning authority, the purposes of the functions conferred on the authority . . . by Part II of the said Act of 1990 or 1997 (which relate to development plans);

• (dd) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (dd) in the case of information given to an officer of the National Assembly for Wales, the purposes of functions conferred on that body by the Welsh Development Agency Act 1975;

• (e) in the case of information given to an officer of a development corporation, the purposes of functions conferred on the corporation by section 3 of the said Act of 1965 or 1968 (which relate to the laying out and development of new towns);

• (f) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

and a person who contravenes the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of an amount not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

• (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Additional Powers of Secretary of State

Additional powers of Secretary of State

5

• (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (2) The Secretary of State may—

• (a) appoint such persons as he thinks fit for the purpose of advising him with respect to the performance of any of the functions conferred or imposed on him by sections 2, 8 to 10 and 12 of this Act; and by virtue of this Act, excluding the following section; and

• (b) pay to any person appointed in pursuance of the preceding paragraph such subsistence and travelling allowances and such compensation for loss of remunerative time as the Secretary of State may determine with the approval of the Minister for the Civil Service.

• (3) The Secretary of State may arrange for or make payments in respect of—

• (a) research into any matter connected with any of his functions relating to employment, unemployment or training for employment . . .

• (b) the dissemination of information derived from such research.

• (4) The Secretary of State shall not make any payments in pursuance of subsection . . . (3) of this section unless the amounts of the payments and the terms on which they are made are approved by the Treasury.

Modification of Industrial Training Act 1964 and other enactments

Modification of Act of 1964

6

• (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (3) The preceding provisions of this section shall not have effect in relation to the Agricultural, Horticultural and Forestry Industry Training Board, and—

• (a) the Industrial Training Act 1964 shall have effect in relation to that Board subject to the provisions of Part III of Schedule 2 to this Act; and

• (b) that Board shall be called the Agricultural Training Board;

and, without prejudice to the powers conferred by the said Act of 1964 to amend or revoke any order in respect of that Board which was made under that Act before this subsection comes into force, nothing in the preceding provisions of this subsection or in the said Part III shall affect the validity of such an order.

• (4) In accordance with the preceding subsection, sections 1 to 3, 5 and 9 of the said Act are to have effect in relation to the Agricultural Training Board, after the coming into force of that subsection and Part III of Schedule 2 to this Act, as set out in Part IV of that Schedule.

• (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Modification and exclusion of other enactments in relation to the Commission and Agencies

7

Careers services

Provision of services by education authorities

8

• (1) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to secure the provision of relevant services for assisting persons undergoing relevant education to decide—

• (a) what employments, having regard to their capabilities, will be suitable for and available to them when they cease undergoing such education, and

• (b) what training or education is or will be required by and available to them in order to fit them for those employments,

and for assisting persons ceasing to undergo relevant education to obtain such employments, training and education.

• (2) In subsection (1) of this section and section 9 of this Act “ relevant services ” means—

• (a) giving of assistance by collecting, or disseminating or otherwise providing, information about persons seeking, obtaining or offering employment, training and education,

• (b) offering advice and guidance, and

• (c) other services calculated to facilitate the provision of any services specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection.

• (3) In this section and section 9 of this Act “ relevant education ” means—

• (a) education involving full-time attendance at any educational institution in Great Britain, other than an educational institution within the higher education sector, and

• (b) education involving part-time attendance at any educational institution in Great Britain, other than an educational institution within the higher education sector, which is education of a description commonly undergone by persons in order to fit them for employment.

• (4) The references in subsection (3) of this section to an educational institution within the higher education sector shall be construed—

• (za) as respects England, as references to a registered higher education provider within the meaning given by section 3(10) of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, other than a provider which is also an institution within the further education sector within the meaning given by section 91(3) of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992,

• (a) as respects ... Wales, in accordance with section 91(5) of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 or, if this section is in force at any time before section 65 of that Act comes into force, in accordance with section 61(3)(a) of that Act until that section comes into force, and

• (b) as respects Scotland, in accordance with section 56(2) of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992.

Records of vocational advice

9

The Secretary of State shall have power to secure the provision of relevant services, or any description of relevant services, for assisting persons other than those undergoing relevant education, or any description of such persons, to decide—

• (a) what employments, having regard to their capabilities, are or will be suitable for and available to them, and

• (b) what training or education is or will be required by and available to them in order to fit them for those employments,

and for assisting those persons to obtain such employments, training and education.

Control of education authorities by Secretary of State

10

• (1) The Secretary of State may perform the duty imposed on him by section 8 of this Act, and exercise the power conferred on him by section 9 of this Act, by making arrangements with—

• (a) local authoritiesor (in Scotland) education authorities,

• (b) persons of any other description, or

• (c) local authorities or education authorities and persons of any other description acting jointly,

under which they undertake to provide, or arrange for the provision of, services in accordance with the arrangements; and in doing so the Secretary of State shall have regard to the requirements of disabled persons.

• (2) The Secretary of State may also perform the duty imposed on him by section 8 of this Act, and exercise the power conferred on him by section 9 of this Act, by giving directions to local authorities or education authorities requiring them to provide, or arrange for the provision of, services in accordance with the directions; and in doing so the Secretary of State shall have regard to the requirements of disabled persons.

• (3) Directions given under this section may require local authorities and education authorities—

• (a) to provide services themselves or jointly with other authorities or persons,

• (b) to arrange for the provision of services by other authorities or persons, or

• (c) to consult and co-ordinate in the provision, or in arranging for the provision, of services with other authorities or persons.

• (4) Arrangements made, and directions given, under this section may include provision for the making of payments by the Secretary of State, whether by way of grant or loan or otherwise, to the persons with whom they are made or to whom they are given.

• (5) Arrangements made, and directions given, under this section in exercise of the power conferred by section 9 of this Act may include provision permitting the making of charges for the provision of the services to which they relate.

• (6) Arrangements made, and directions given, under this section shall require the person with whom they are made or to whom they are given—

• (a) to provide, or arrange for the provision, of services in accordance with such guidance of a general character as the Secretary of State may give, and

• (b) to furnish the Secretary of State, in such manner and at such times as he may specify in the arrangements or directions or in guidance given under paragraph (a) of this subsection, with such information and facilities for obtaining information as he may so specify.

• (7) The Secretary of State may give directions to local authorities and education authorities requiring them to transfer (on such terms as may be specified in the directions) to any persons who are providing, or are to provide, services in accordance with arrangements made, or directions given, under this section any records of the authorities which may be relevant in the provision of the services.

• (8) local authorities and education authorities shall have power—